Dave's Beach Bar

Beta Beta Beta

2011-03-12T18:43:00.002-06:00

So with the extra time on my hands due to unemployment, I decided to work on some projects that have been around the house. One of these projects is to try and find a way to get my old high school marching band tapes onto the computer. Problem #1 is that I don't have any way to do it. I know that there are stores that can transfer my tapes to cd, but I don't currently have the money and I am a little leary on giving these special memories to a stranger. I remember that Dan had a toy that he bought that could transfer the tapes, but I could never get it to work. So I found his little machine and brought it home again. After some internet searching I found out that the version that I have has a problem with windows vista and I need a newer version. So I upgrade the newer version and get the silly thing to work. Problem #2 is a bigger problem. The tapes are in the beta format. At the time it was the better format of the two, but vcr's had better marketing and won out in the format wars. I was hoping that a friend on facebook would have one sitting in their basement, but no such luck. Dan was able to buy me one on ebay that I can hopefully sell for the same price so it isn't a total waste of money. So far the machine only will run for a couple of minutes before it locks up. I can't tell if it's the machine or the tape. I am trying to edit out the mess ups, but still have some work to do.

Yes I still know I have a blog

2010-11-26T14:03:00.003-06:00

Yes, back in February I promised to blog more and I can confidently say I have failed miseribly. So, let's go over my life up to this point. The major thing is my job. Back in December of '09 we found out that our company was going through a merger with another company, but that was all the detail that was given at that time. It's a slow process, but I was looking forward to working for a larger company and was very proud in what I had accomplished in the year at my current company. So over the first couple months of the year, I was doing my thing cautiously since I wasn't sure what the new company had in stock. During that time we all had to go through the interviewing process to see where we would fit in the new structure of the company. April came about and they were finally nailing down everyone's job titles and positions. I was called into my meeting and informed that there would not be a position available for me. Son of a B****. But they gave me 4 months to find something before I was shown the door. I thought, Heck, four months shouldn't be that bad, but little did I know in this economy. The four months flew by pretty quick. The four months was very difficult since everyone knew I was basically fired so I am not sure they were comfortable around me knowing that. To the upper management of my current company as well as the merging company I was non existant which was extremely disspointing having praised the "family" of co-workers that I had. Finally my last day, just sitting at my desk, fuming at everyone. I though for sure I would get an exit interview, or at least have to fill some paperwork out and turn in my key.... but nothing. So, I stood up, threw my key on the VP's desk, bit my tongue from saying something nasty, and headed out the door. Only felt this bad leaving a job one time before and that was when I left the radio station.

Update: It is now 6 months since the above post. I was getting ready to post the post above and got hit with a virus so blogger has made me nervous. The interviews have been few and far between unfortunatly. There have been a couple that I would have loved or been perfect for, but no such luck. I keep plugging away every day. Back to my routine that last time I was unemployed. I get up every morning and get ready for the day. Take William to school and come back and search the net for jobs. I have 6 or 7 internet places that I look at and then to searches for major companies around here. I am getting quite a few projects done around the house after doing a major landscaping project for uncle Dave. Wish I had the money to finish the basement before Easter, but I have been in untra conservative mode for money for months now. How Jenny is keeping the heat on with what we make with her part time job and my measly unemployment, I don't know.

August... Seriously

2010-02-17T18:45:00.002-06:00

My last blog post was August? I need to get back on the horse here. It so helped that I could blog at work. I just don't have the interst to get onto the computer when I get home. But tonight the boys begged me to play "monster trucks" on the Wii, so I thought I would stop by and say hi. I will say that the monster trucks on wii is very cool.

So last night we decided to take the boys out to eat and then over to Kohl's to buy me some new shoes, and to let Jen return some stuff. This has been the plan for two weeks now, but something always came up that didn't allow us to follow through on the plan. Most times it was Jen's work calling her in for the night. We usually don't go out as a family to restaurants since it can be a little pricey with 5 people now, and you never know how the boys are going to act. Even though saying that, the boys have done real well lately. The only hiccup is if we go to triangle park there is a mad rush to get outside and feed the ducks halfway through dinner, but we figured they could handle Cracker Barrell. Lucky for us it was snowing outside and Cracker Barell wasn't that busy. The only part that I don't like about Cracker Barrell (at least with 3 kids) is all the toys and candy that you have to walk by twice going to and from the restaurant. We sat down and the boys did really well. Andrew was having fun with the golf tee game even though he didn't really get the concept. He just took out all the golf tees and color coordinated them back in the triangle. Christopher was happy with the crayons. We ordered our dinner and of course it was time for the inevitable "pee break" with two of the boys. As of this point Andrew is still fighting us on his potty training, we might have to get hardcore on him. Anyway the food arrives and I am trying to move stuff out of the way so that Christopher can't grab a hot plate and move all of the crayons and stuff. My plate is placed in front of me and I am moving one last thing, and wouldn't you know it I knock my full glass of pop onto my plate. Son of a B*****.So I am picking ice cubes off of my plate and trying to drain as much of the liquid as possible. The waitress says she will get me "another one" and will also return with a towel. Well she comes back with a stack of paper towels and "another" pop. Dumping the pop was totally my fault so I didn't expect to get a whole new meal, but I thought it might be a nice gesture on their part, but alas they didn't. I did ask for some new bread to replace the now soggy break on my sandwich. I only asked for two pieces, but I should have asked for for since the other side was totaly soggy as well. But hey at least my fries didn't get wet. Jen just laughed at me. So besides my problems, the boys did fantastic and ate all of their food. We payed the bill along with another trip to the bathroom for William and headed over the Kohl's. I took the boys with me to look at shoes while Jen returned my shirt. I made the mistake of not strapping Christoper down so he escaped for a minute which caused a little panic on my part. Lucky for me Jen showed up to wrangle the kids and I picked out a pair of shoes. I was amazed at the 25 pairs of shoes they had I would only even consider wearing 1 of them to work. I tried them on and they fit fine. We picked up some socks and headed to the checkout. Jen forgot her coupon at home, but they still gave it to her just on her word. Antoher qhick trip to Walmart to pick up juice for the boys, but with the snowstorm, there was a run on juice. We got home, put the boys to bed, and settled in for LOST.

I am going to attempt to blog more. if nothing else to catch up on what's been going on. It's really not that much. Maybe I will run an update on the basement remodel. Drywall is done, now it's just a matter of mudding and sanding (the part the sucks)

night Golf V

2009-08-27T21:35:00.004-05:00

I noticed that it is the middle of August and start calling around to see if I can get information about night golf. I remembered the name of the guy in charge so I call his office and get all of the information. Much to my surprise it is only a couple of weeks away. So once again I invite everyone in my address book to play with me. This year I added inviting all of my facebook friends who live in Fort Wayne as well as put out an email for people at work. Once again I get a few people saying it sounds like a lot of fun, but again they start canceling or saying they can't make it. Comes the night of the outing and no one has indicated they want to play. I was considering not going myslef, but, screw it, I have fun. Also by now I know a few of the guys so I figure there is a chance I would get teamed up with them. I show up early just in case someone shows up and grabbed a beer and dinner. The dinner was a bit of a dissapointment. They had a pulled pork, but it didn't have any sauce on it. They let you put your own sauce on, but the pork was so dried out and tough that all the sauce in the world wouldn't have helped it. The bratwurst looked a little scary, but the beans and potatos were very tasty. So I sat there and had a few beers waiting on the off chance that someone would show up. When no one did I ended up getting paired with Dr. Phil, who I had played with before, and his brothers. We headed to the first tee with a cold beer in hand and prepared for a night of fun. They actually postponed the start of the round because it wasn't dark enough, but the threat of rainy weather in the area made me think that we might want to get going. The first hit of the year was a little disspointing, but still not too bad for the 3 or 4 time on the course this year. Bewtween the 4 of us we made a pretty good team all contributing to the effort. Once again the beer cart was never too far away :). By the 4th hole we were one under par (legitamate) and playing pretty good. We had felt a few drops as we approched the tee, and then it started to really come down. We all scramble for the rain gear and umbrellas that we had remembered to bring with us. We continued to play the hole in the hopes that it would stop or at least let up. We finished the hole and the rain let up and then stopped. The rest of the night only sprinkled a few times which was lucky for us. We finished up a little after midnight and went back into the proshop to wait for everyone to come in. We waited and waited for one last team to show up, but they never did. I have said it before where there is usually one group who has to "play in" and make everyone wait. (That really pisses me off). We started to walk out to the course get tell these a-holes to hurry up, and even grabbed a cart to run out there, but finally decided that the group must have finished and just left the course. Still annoying. I think we ended up 2 under and in third place or something like that, once again I don't think the people who "won" were actually keeping score. So we all got out little prize and were done for the night. This is still alot of fun to play in and I am sure I will play again next year. Hopefully one of these years I can take a big group with me. They were supposed to move the outing so it wouldn't conflict with HS football, but they didn't. Hopefully next year they will let me know when the outing is and I don't have to hunt them down.

School Days

2009-08-27T20:15:00.004-05:00

William started his first day of Kindergarten a week ago (yeah I am behing in my blogging). He is actually repeating Kindergarten. He did really well last year with his speach delay, but we thought another year would do him good and that now would be the best time to have him repeat a grade. The other factor is that he is changing schools as well and going full day so he wouldn't notice it as much. I missed his first day the last time due to the new job, but I decided I wasn't going to miss this one so I just went in late. Jen had a pretty good plan for getting everyone up and around so we put that into play on Monday. They allow parents of Kindergarten kids go bring the kids to their classrooms on the first day only so we decided ot make it a family trip. Everyone got up and around and we actually headed out the door on time. As we are pulling out of the garage, the heavens opened up to a down pour (perfect). We got near the school and the traffic came to a stand still. So we muddled through that and worked our way through the "drop off" process. all the parents were parking to drop their kids off so we had to park kind of far out in the parking lot. Lucy for me we threw a couple of umbrellas. We attempt to unload all the kids in a downpour with the parking lots flooded. I took Christopher's cup of juice and put it on the floor and of course it hit a blanket and bounced out and UNDER the freakin van. I am dressed for work with an inch of water covering the parking lot, but finally I said forget it and took my umbrella down and hit the cup so it would go behind the van and of course it got caught by the back tire. Finally I got the stupid thing and grabbed Christopher. So here I am carrying Christopher, holding Andrew's hand, and managing an umbrella as Jen took care of William. We got in the gym and William takes off like a shot to his homeroom. We did our best to keep up with him. He went into his room, put his backpack away, and found his seat and sat down. No fuss, no muss, happy as a clam (Thank God). We said good bye and waded back to the car and I took off for work. It's been almost two weeks and William is still having alot of fun. He get's to eat lunch at school every once in a while which makes us a little uneasy because of his peanut alergy, but so far so good.

Yard Work

2009-08-15T22:39:00.004-05:00

There are a few things that have been bugging me for years now. One is the state of the landscaping around our house. When we moved in 3 years ago I knew it was in need of some attention, but with having two babies and lack of funds, that project kept getting pushed into the back burner. Finally the kids are a little older and we had a few dollars in the bank so we decided to work on the landscaping. First I defined the area on the side of the house and transplanted some hostas over there with some edging. I ended up taking a Friday off work to try and get some stuff done. I thought that it might be easier to get stuff done since things would be open longer on a week day than a weekend and Jen wasn't working. I had to tear some bushes out of the front planter. I could have killed myself trying to dig these bushes out, but I decided to take the easy way out and invite my father and brother in law over and had them bring a truck. The bushes were no match for the truck. The yard dipped where the bushes were so I decided to grab a load of dirt to even it up. As always looking for a good deal, I found a place on the Northwest part of town. So I ran over there and grabbed a load of dirt. My father and brother in law helped me spread it out to even it. While I was doing that, Jen was on the hunt for plants. We hired a landscaper to come up with a plan for our front yard, but we wanted to see if we could save a little money by buying some of these plants at a home improvement store. She found the rose bushes at Home Depot for a pretty good deal. A little while later, Jen and I loaded into the truck to get the other bushes. I found out that a member of the board of directors of the Credit Union also owns a landscape business. I thought it would be a good idea to give him my business and maybe he would swing me a little deal. We came back with all the plants that we needed and spent the next couple of hours planting 25 bushes. Jen and I had a pretty good system down where I would dig the holes and she would put them in. We finished just in time, since I was totally burned out and I had been at it for about 12 hours. I got up the next morning and headed out for a mulch run. Another trip across town to save a few bucks which by the time I put gas in the truck actually didn't save me anything. I had to make two runs since the one truck load didn't quite cover everything in the front yard. So another 8 hour day of running across town and moving mulch I was spent again. Sunday I think I might have putted around the house a little bit, but spent most of the day recuperating. Talking to Jen later on, she tells me that the money we used to work on the landscaping she had actually put aside to buy a new TV. (I think the TV would have been cheaper). Yeah I was a little bummed about not getting a new TV, but the front of the house looks so much better and I think I enjoy having that project done than I would enjoy a new TV. If nothing else, I am not embarrassed to go outside and talk to the neighbors, and I am sure they are breathing a sigh of relief that we aren't a bunch of hillbillies. Now we just need to maintain everything, plant some flowers occasionally, and refresh the mulch every couple of years.

You have to be freakin' kidding me

2009-07-23T22:12:00.007-05:00

So months ago I felt the first tinges of pain like a kidney stone when we were on vacation in Alabama. Then a few weeks after that I spent a night in the hospital with the pain again. After the hospital stay I had a follow up with my urologist. He didn't seem to be too concerned about the size of the stone that would require a procedure. He gave me some medicine that would supposidly help pass the stone. Then I had to have a follow up xray in week. So I go through all of the stuff of medicine and drinking tons of water. A week later I went for my xray and was hoping for an immediate response from my doctor whether or not I still had the stone. Unfortunatly the doctor wasn't in, so I had to wait for a day to get the results. Finally the nurse called and said I was "all clear". I was thinking, "thank God" I didn't even feel it pass. whoo hoo!! at least I thought.... A couple of weeks of later I felt the same pain of a stone. What the hell? I figure that the nurse read the xray wrong. So I down a couple of pain pills and start the process of drinking tons of water again. Every time that I get ready to call my urologist, I start to feel better. Finally I feel some discomfort in my bladder, but again it's just discomfort and not pain. I thought maybe I passed it and was a bit irritated. So then last week I was leaving for work, I felt a little tinge of pain in a very bad area just South of the bladder. I thought about calling sick into work, but finally just decied to grab my happy pills and go to work. After getting to work I down my big container of water. As I am going to the bathroom I fell extreme pain in my (you know). By definition I had one stuck in the chamber and it freakin' hurt. I get back to my desk and pop a few happy pills and just try and sit still until they go into effect. I quickly call the urologist to see if there was a procedure they could do to get it. After bouncing a few calls with the ditsy nurse she tells me that they can get me into the hospital the next day. The next day!!!!Forget that. And I have to go to the hospital. Son of a B***ch. They called in some more medicine to help, but I am thinking, forget that I will just go to the emergency room. We have already reached our deductable for the year because of the first visit, so it would be free. I decide to get the medicine and try and tough it out. I am getting ready to leave work, but remember I had a huge glass of water a short time ago. I have to pee, but I am thinking its going to hurt. I go into the bathroom and do my thing, and by the grace of God it just comes out without any pain (either that or the pills were taking effect). This thing is freaking huge. I only have passed one stone in my pass and never really saw it. The rest have been blown up by sonic stuff. After passing it I feel soooooo much better. I actually finished out the day at work. Of course then I am pissed because i got the all clear from my urologist. I found out later that some stones don't show up on xray. The emergancy room visit was a CT scan so that's how they saw it. So after a few days of healing I feel alot better and know for sure that I am all clear now...

Soccer for kids

2009-07-23T21:55:00.002-05:00

We decided that it was time to start getting the boys involved in sports. We wanted to start William a little earlier, but with Christopher being born last year, all of our free time was spent with that. We missed the first opportunity to get William involved with the local parks and rec, but we have signed him up for an Upward program that starts next month. We did make the deadline for getting Andrew signed up for every monday and wednesday of July. First practice that we showed up to we had no idea what to expect. We can't even get Andrew to keep his clothes on at home, so who knows how he would act around other kids. Would he pay attention? Would he want to participate? I am happy to say that he ran right out onto the field and is having a blast. He actually listens to the coaches. There are a few things that he still does on his own terms, but overall I am glad he is having fun. It's hard to believe that it ends next week, but now that we know he can handle it, we will make sure we sign him up more often. I wonder what other sports that he might be able to do...

Greekfest

2009-07-23T21:05:00.003-05:00

I am soo far behind on my blogging. Let's see if I can catch up...

So I get a call from "cousin" Marc inviting the family to meet them down at greekfest in downtown Fort Wayne. I think the last time that I was at greekfest was a long time ago and it was in the Northcrest shopping center and not downtown. I missed germanfest, but decided to give this one a try. Also, I thought it would be a nice time to visit with Marc and Chris since I hardly get together with them. We load up the family into "herbie" and head downtown. I find a parking spot across the street from headwaters. We go into the fest for a very resonable $2 for Jen and I. After a little walking around we finally find Marc and Julie with Chris and Cami and the kids. Marc and I run over to grab some food for the families. A couple of gyros a eggplant lasagna thing and a pop was about pretty pricey, but very tasty. As we are heading back to the table we run into the Kannings who join us. It's a little hard to visit since the music is a little loud and we are pretty close to the stage. I try a greek beer and it is very tasty. Seconds after eating the boys get antsy, so we head over to the kids rides at the fest. It only cost a buck for the boys to ride the rides. The picture above is William bailing on the ferris wheel and letting Andrew ride it by himself. You can see the look in the above picture, William is like "this thing is going to do what?" and Andrew looks scared as heck. Another ride has these little planes that go round and round, and both the older boys loved that.

After the rides Christopher was getting a little cranky that he couldn't ride the rides, so we called it a night. We didn't really get a chance to visit that much, but we are going to try a guys night to let us be able to catch up. I would probably do greekfest again in the future, just for the beer and gyros.

Just the tooth

2009-06-05T22:22:00.001-05:00

The other night I was giving the boys a bath and noticed William kind of playing with his teeth, but didn't think anything about it. The next day William presents a tooth to Jen that had fallen out. It kind of freaked us both out since we thought it is a little soon for him to be loosing teeth. Instead of calling his Dentist or any professional to ask if we should be worried, Jen decides to call Carrie. I don't know when Carrie became a tooth expert. According to the experts (Carrie) it's a little early but not unheard of to loose a tooth this early. The good part is that he didn't freak out about it,which is good since dealing with loose teeth gives me the heebie-jeebies. Jen and I have to quickly decide what to do about the tooth fairy since we didn't think we would have to deal with this for a while yet. We let William take the tooth to school the next day to show his teacher, but then the following night his tooth was replaced, by the tooth fairy, with a quarter.

Goodnight and Big Balls

2009-06-05T21:58:00.003-05:00

I started watching "wipeout" last year and found it to be a very humorous show. It just amazes me how these people can continually get the snot beat out of them and keep going. It also amazes me that these people aren't seriously hurt. They time the challenges and some of them can take 10 minutes. I can't imagine doing these stunts over and over again for 10 minutes. I get tired just watching it. The boys started watching it with me on occasion and fell in love with the show. It must be a guy thing seeing people get smacked in the face. They ask me almost every day if the show is on that day. The other part that is very funny is the tag line that the host says at the end of the show. "goodnight and big balls". The other night we were putting the boys to bed. After tucking Andrew into bed, William goes to hug him goodnight and says, "goodnight and big balls". I thought Jen was going to fall over laughing. It's just something you wouldn't expect to hear from your 6 year old.

Damn, I forgot how much that hurts

2009-05-26T21:33:00.002-05:00

As you might have read in my Alabama entry two blogs down (if you actually read all of that) that last Saturday during vacation I felt the pain in my side like a kidney stone. Well I went to bed Wednesday night around 11:00pm or so and was only asleep for a little bit when I felt pain again. I tried a few things to get around the pain. Over the counter medicine, heating pad, and some other stuff. Well the pain just kept getting worse and worse. By this time it was about 2:00am and Jen was asleep downstairs. Two hours of this excruciating pain was enough for me. I put some clothes on, told Jen what I was doing, and drove myself to the hospital. Why does this shit always happen at dark o'clock. There was no way that I was going to make Jen take me since that would mean waking all the kids up. And I didn't want to call my mom at that hour. So I get to the hospital around 2:30am or so and there is no one in the lobby. I kind of look around and finally someone comes out and asks if I need help. By this point its about a 9 on the 1 to 10 pain scale. As I am sitting there thinking they will usher me right in and get me some pain killers, a guy comes walking in. She asks him if he is alright or if we were together and he says no. He says that he is having chest pains.... come to find out that chest pains trump kidney stone pain and he gets ushered back right away. She tells me to have a seat in the waiting room and they will be right with me. Just my luck. I thought for sure that I would be the only person there at that time of night. Well I waited and waited. I tried sitting, standing, walking and do anything I could to ease up the pain. It seemed like forever,but finally they took me back and got me checked in. It wasn't long and they started an IV with that magic medicine. I started to feel a little better and they took me to get a CT to see if they could see the stone. After that they wheeled me back to the room and I started to fall sleep for some short cat naps between the blood pressure machine going off and nurses checking on me. The doctor came in and told me that they saw a stone about 4mm between my kidney and bladder. Stones this size they usually just try and let pass by themselves and don't usually require a surgery or procedure. Unless they get stuck. So I am basically free to go with a prescription for pain medicine around 5:00am. I run into a problem that they won't let me drive because of the morphine and I don't want to have Jen wake the kids to pick me up until a little closer to the usual wake up time. They let me catch a little more sleep and I finally call Jen around 6:30. After my second nap I am actually feeling pretty good and fell like I am alright to drive, but they insist I wait. So I go out to the waiting room after singing my paper work and wait for Jen and the boys to arrive. I get thinking of the pain in the butt of trying to pick up the Saturn later on in the day and I really feel fine. So, I am debating what to do, and finally just walk out the door and drive home. Yeah, I am a bad boy. Needless to say I took the day off to try and get some rest, but again Jen had to work so I tried to catch naps around watching the kids.
So now I am just sitting around trying to pass that stone. I know it is still there as of Monday night since I got hit with some more pain, but lucky I had some pain pills. Got to keep the water and cranberry juice going.

El Destructo rides again

2009-05-23T23:08:00.002-05:00

We call Andrew El Destructo because it seems like everything that he touches, he eventually destroys. On our trip to Alabama, my dad gave us an old DVD player that he had. He knew that the DVD player that the boys used in the toy room was the portable one, and that it has been taking a beating over the last year or so. He just happened to have an extra one that they didn't use. So we get the player home and the very next day Andrew is whining that he wants to watch a movie in the toy room. I think that this is a good opportunity to pull out the new player and get it hooked up. I put in a movie and it works fantastic, but the movie that Andrew was watching quickly fell out of favor so he put in a new one. Seconds later I hear, "daddy, the TV isn't working". I figure that it is just a dirty DVD. The boys always finger up the discs so they stall or skip. I get in there and try to eject the disc to clean it and it won't eject. Crap, the DVD player wasn't even on for 10 minutes before Andrew breaks it. I play with it for a while, but can't get it to work. Finally I decide that there is no way to get the DVD to work so I decide to pry open the case to get the DVD out. I am trying to be a little careful for the chance that I can tear it apart and get it back together again. I finally get into the tray and notice that Andrew had put in two DVDs at the same time which jammed the player. Lucky for me I was able to put the player back together again and it is working fine. El Destucto rides again....

'Bama bound

2009-05-22T22:24:00.007-05:00

Here is the long blog entry about our trip to Alabama.. fasten your seat belt.

A couple of months ago my dad brought up the fact that my step-niece was graduating from High School down in Montgomery. Now I haven't been down to Montgomery that much since my dad and his wife moved down there, but I have watched Kirsten grow up from a little kid in the times that I have made it down there. It's hard to believe that she is graduating already. I remember one of the first times I visited I help my dad put together a plastic car for Christmas. I also heard that my Aunt and cousins were going to make the trip down for the graduation as well, and I haven't seen them in forever either. So after some discussion we decided to try and a make the trip. The only factor that was a real worry to me was how the boys would do in a car trip down there. I figured that it would be 13 hours with lunch/dinner/potty stops. They did really well in our trip to Rochester last year and that was 11 hours. As long as the DVD player holds up I figured that we would be good to go. The trip planning and packing started early and we were pretty well prepared. After getting off work on Wednesday night I was trying to load everything that I could in the van (aka. Herbie). Jen had to work so I wasn't sure about some of the stuff to load. Finally Jen gets home and we do what we can for the night. Jen settles in to watch the recorded tape of "Lost", but it's already 11:00pm and the finale is 2 hours long. I head to bed since we have a long drive in the morning. Just before going to bed I watch the weather forecast to see how the drive is going to be and they are all talking about a huge thunderstorm that is heading our way. Crap. Thunderstorms mean that the kids will be in our room. I crash quickly but start hearing the rumbles around 3:00am. Around 4:00am William comes in the room and won't sleep on his make shift bed on the floor so we let him sleep in the bed. The only problem with William sleeping in our bed is that he is all elbows and knees so he is no fun to sleep with. Shortly after that Andrew starts crying so Jen goes in to solve that problem. Even with Jen gone, William has to be right next to me. I finally get fed up and crash on the floor. The alarm goes off way to early, but I get out of bed and start getting ready. The boys are a pain to try and get up since they were up alot. I am trying to get out on the road by 7:30 - 8:00 since I didn't want to be getting to my dad's house after dark since I hadn't been there in 6 years or so. So after all the waking and loading we were pulling out of the garage at 8:45 which isn't too bad for us. The trip down was pretty uneventful. We ran into a little bit of rain, but the traffic wasn't too bad and we didn't hit any jams. The boys were glued to the DVD player and Christopher did great with a little bit of fussiness. We pulled into Montgomery a little after dark. They are an hour earlier than us so we actually gained an hour, but we spent the whole vacation with "their" time and "our" time. It was almost exactly 13 hours when we pulled up to the house. We were greeted by Dad, Betty, and Rugby (the dog). We visited a little bit and then put the boys to bed.

A little more visiting and we went to sleep our self.

I thought with the long drive and late time to sleep that the boys would sleep in, but no such luck. 6:00am (their time) I hear Andrew in the front room saying "hello" so I get up and get some breakfast for him. Betty is an early riser too, so she was up soon after. After a little while everyone woke up and we had a nice relaxing breakfast. I actually felt pretty good after the long drive and short sleep. The boys are running all over the place so I know they are feeling pretty good too. Either that or they are just real excited at playing with the dog. (The poor dog) After a while we decide to go over to the Montgomery Zoo and check that out. We pull up to busloads of kids waiting to get in the zoo. Lucky for us it just looked impossible to get in and we walked right up to the entrance. Another bonus for the day is that our season pass to the Fort Wayne zoo also got us in free at the Montgomery zoo. The Montgomery zoo is a very nice zoo with alot of animals the Fort Wayne doesn't have. The first thing that William sees after getting into the zoo was their train that ran around the zoo. Of course this is the one thing that William fixates on so the whole time we are there he keeps asking if we are heading to the train. We kept saying no, look at the elephant. Finally we get to the train ride and it is like Fort Wayne's train only a little longer of a ride. Unfortunately the train passes by the animal cages, but the trees and bushes are so overgrown you can't see anything. After the train ride and an hour or so of walking around we decide to head home. It was real hot down there (compared to up here). We get home for nap time for the kids and me. Kirsten show up so we end up visiting for a little while. Man she got tall, not the little girl I remember. After that we just hung around the house. Whenever we visit, Betty has "snack night". This is a HUGE freakin' spread of all kinds of snack and appetizers. It's become quite the tradition to do this when we go down there and Betty does a great job in putting it all together. Most of it is home-made. So eat, drink, eat,drink and general merriment. Cami (Kirsten's mom) also comes to the house for snack night. Boys and us get to bed at a pretty good time.

Bright and early Saturday morning I once again hear Andrew up at 6:00am. Hey, at least they aren't waking me up in the middle of the night. After another lazy morning of getting up and having breakfast we decide to head out and see the Children's part of a museum with Kirsten. it's a pretty neat little area of the museum that is very hands on and has lots of activities. The museum is in the same area as the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Yes.. two things that don't really go together, Alabama and Shakespeare. We had fun at the museum, and of course the boys had the most fun feeding the ducks,turtles, and fish outside. After that we took the kids home and my dad and I had some errands to run in town (we had a list). First stop was a casino that was recently built near their house. They say casino, I say, pull-barn with a bunch of electronic games. It's all on cards so you don't hear the sound of change hitting the pans. We walked in and out of that place. Next stop was to drop of some trash. After that it was the great search for beer. Dad wanted to get Coors light in bottles, but our first stop to Walmart and then to Cosco but they only had cans. So back in the truck and over to Sams Club. Both of these places are basically the same thing, even in the store layouts. I was able to find the 4th book of the Twilight series for Jen to read on the way home. She blew through the 3rd book on the way down. While at Cosco dad remembered hat he had to pick up a cake for Kirsten's graduation party. Unfortunately in getting the cake, the fun part of our running around (hitting a bucket of balls) wasn't going to happen, at least not without melting the cake in the heat. We get back and Betty has put together a very tasty looking lasagna, but all of a sudden I feel some pain in my left side. It's the familiar feeling of a kidney stone so I wasn't able to eat anything. Lucky for me after an hour or so the pain let up and I was feeling better the next day. My dad's pool isn't heated (it doesn't need to be, it's Alabama) so it wasn't warm, but it wasn't too cold. Basically it was lake temperature. The boys were having fun putting their feet in the water so I decided to try it out and put on my suit. The first dive was pretty cold, but I got used to it very fast. The boys put their suits on too and joined me in the pool. William has had swim lessons, but still doesn't swim that well. After playing in the pool for a while, some dark clouds rolled in and we started hearing thunder so we decided to call it a day for the pool. More merriment and visiting with my dad until dark. The boys found out that there was a TV in the front room that could get satellite so they would go in there to watch Disney while we watched whatever we wanted to.

Sunday was graduation day. I heard Andrew up again bright and early, but by the time I got out to the front room Betty was already up and feeding him an Oreo poptart. I was kind of surprised to see him eating that since he isn't a real big chocolate eater. The rest of the house is gradually waking up. Betty is in the kitchen cooking like crazy since they are having a get together at the house after graduation. Out of the corner of my eye I see Andrew walking toward the front room and then the familiar sound of him throwing up all over the place. I quickly get up and try to catch as much as possible in my hands. My dad is telling me to get him outside, but he usually has one big puke and he is done, and the fact that if I don't move him I will only have one spot to clean rather than a trail. Of course it's the oreo poptart all over the WHITE carpet. I am mortified and quickly try to clean it up as fast as I can. Lucky for me they have a carpet cleaner just like ours, so I spend the next half hour trying to get is as clean as humanly possible. This was the first incident of many for Andrew for the day including bloody toes and other bodily harm. We eventually get ready and head out to the graduation. It was a very rainy day in Alabama. The boys did pretty well at the graduation and behaved pretty good. After the graduation we all headed back to the house for another large meal. Betty put out a huge spread including a whole baked ham, a ton of chicken breasts, and alot of other great food. I am not sure how much weight I gained on vacation, but I know I did. Only one of my cousins made it over for the graduation,so I was a little bummed about that, but it was good to see him. Eventually the party broke up and we did some more visiting and whatnot. I loaded as much in the van as possible again, but again I had to wait on stuff. I wanted to get going early again if it was possible.

Around 5:30am (their time) Christopher woke up. (he was sleeping in the same room as us) and he was wide awake. We tried to lay him in the bed with us to get a Little more sleep, but he wouldn't hear of it. It actually worked out since we got a little earlier start. But again the chore of getting everyone up, dressed, fed, and yada yada yada it was around 8:00am (their time) before we finally hit the road. Again another uneventful drive back to Fort Wayne. The boys did very well again, with Christopher being a little more fussy that first time. The only difference in this trip is that that boys were eating like we hadn't fed them in a week. They barely touched the snack food on the way down, but hit them HARD on the way home. Even after their snackfest they still ate the meals when we stopped for Lunch (Cracker Barrel) and dinner (Pizza Hut). I was real tempted to not stop for dinner since we were only about an hour and a half away from home, but the boys hadn't been out of the van in a while, and we didn't have any food at the house so we decided to stop. We got home at around 13 hours again,but the drive didn't seem that bad. Pulled in the driveway, called everyone to let them know we made it home safe, put the boys to bed, did a quasi unpacking and finally headed to bed after a bit of an unwind.

Overall the trip was really great. The boys did well in the van, and didn't destroy my dad's house too much, even though his collection of cars might need some repair. It was a good time, but next time I think we will do a whole week down there.

Thanks to Dad, Betty, Kirsten and Cami for a fantastic time

how to fix the TV

2009-05-13T20:56:00.003-05:00

My POS tv keeps messing up and I found the way to fix it online, but everytime I bookmark the page how to fix it I either loose it or my computer dies so I decided to blog it so I will always have it.

> Samsung\TXG2746\Volume at max and adj vol- shuts down the set\\\\

Using> the r/c* enter the factory mode by> pressing mute* 1*8*2* and power. This brings up the svc menu. Scroll> down using the CH button on the> remote to Factory Reset.\Press the volume + button. The set will shut> down* but all will be well. Somehow> the EEPROM was corrupted\\\\\\\

Shave and a haircut....

2009-05-09T22:19:00.002-05:00

So this morning I get up bright and early. Who am I kidding I was awaken by the boys before 7:00am. I ran outside and put down weed and feed on the front yard to help keep up with the Joneses next door and have a weed-free lawn. I will do the backyard tomorrow morning. Anyway after doing that I headed out for a hair cut. I wanted to get my hair cut short for our vacation. Oh, by the way did I mention we were heading to Alabama to see my dad? The forecast for down there is mid to upper 80's so I want to have as short of hair as possible. After my haircut I headed over to the Saturn dealership for an oil change and to see what "other"service they want to try and talk me into. We get free car washes for the Saturn as long as we own it, but since we live on the other side of town we don't use this service that much. It was real handy when Jen worked across the street at Lincoln. I figure over the 8 years we have owned the car we have used it enough. Anyway, I find that if I get the car washed before I get the oil changed I can usually avoid a huge crowd at the car wash. Yeah they are free, but they are free too ALL of the cars that they sell at the automall, and there is only ONE thing to drive through so it gets real busy on the weekends and after 5 on the weekdays. The quality of the wash is kinda poor but it's free. Anyhooo. I get into the dealership and it doesn't look that busy. I deal with the girl service advisor that I like working with. They have a grumpy old man that tries to sell you everything under the sun and makes it seem like if you don't do the service he recommends that you will surely kill yourself in an accident. I notice that I am 500 miles away from 100,000. The advisor says it's time to start looking at the 90,000 service for the car, but then she does an ideal thing. She actually takes the time to look back at my previous service to see that I had had alot of the stuff done over the past couple of years. That's the kind of service that I appreciate. I can't afford the "recommended" service at 30, 60,and 90,000 miles, so I have been doing a couple thing at a time. I call it my a la carte service plan and it works pretty good. She tells me that I am next in line so it won't be that long which is fantastic. I go into the waiting room and grab a pop and a couple of cookies (I really like that feature at Saturn). I go outside to look over the used cars and some of the demo models. I like to take a look just to have some idea of how much it would cost if I would ever have to replace the Saturn. It's cold and windy outside so I don't hang out there long. I go back in and grab a refill to hear my name being called. Dang that was fast. Of course as I am paying my bill some one else pulls a car in front of mine blocking the exit. The service girl gets pissed at her co-worker and kind of lets me know it under her breath. After a short wait I head out.

After my quick Saturn adventure I head over to my brother's house. I agreed to take care of his lawn while he is out on the road. Just to keep you up to speed on that story. My brother got divorced in December. In the settlement he got the house, that he didn't want, and also let his ex live in the house for a couple of months until she found a place to go. Well, the deadline for move out was May 1, which came and went since she didn't have a place to go. And then the deadline was extended to May 15, but later extended to the 18th. After she moves out, we move in for a major clean,repair, update, job on the house. We don't want to throw alot of money into it, but it has to be presentable for when it goes on the market. Anyhoo again, I feel a little awkward going to the house with her still there since I haven't talked to her in months and wasn't sure how that meeting was going to go. I pull up to the house and see my mom and another van in the driveway. That's weird. Come to find out that a guy from the gas company was there to disconnect the gas grill from the meter so we can get rid of the gas grill. For some reason my brother's ex just leaves for work after letting the gas guy start the work but then locks him out of the house. Yeah he does the work outside, but he can't turn the gas back on to the house without making sure that the water heater is properly lit and the furnace is working. You know the general stuff they do to make sure the don't blow up someone's hosue. So they call my brother, who is somewhere USA, who in turn calls my mom, but she doesn't have a key or garage door opener to the house. My ex mother in law was supposed to be there to let him in, but didn't show up. Finally the gas guy leaves a note on the door and takes off. Mom and I chat for a while, but then I decide to give the grass a cut. Lucky for me the lawn mower is in the shed out back so I didn't have to worry about it being locked up. I grab the mower and start cutting the grass. I lived at that house with Dan and my friend Paul for a couple of years, so it was like old times cutting the grass again. The only thing is that when I cut the grass the last time I didn't have to worry about the doggy landmines in the back yard. Man, that's alot of shit. I finish up cutting the grass and am heading out and see my ex mother in law standing there, so I end up talking to her for a while. She got the wrong message from her daughter so she didn't realize that we were locked out. The conversation with her wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be and we both expressed our feeling that we wish that the marriage would have worked out. But, time to move on. As I am leaving I get a bright idea. I ask my ex mother in law if she has a key to the house. I run down to the hardware store and have a couple of copies made for mom and me. I get back to the house and test the new keys out to find that they are extremely tight in the locks and they won't turn. I am doing everything to get it to work including using motor oil to lube the key down and using a pair of pliers to get it to work. Finally I look at Alta and ask her if she is sure this is THEIR house key and not HERS. She looks at me and gets that look like "oh crap". Yep I made copies of her house key. She just gives me the real house key to my brothers house and I take off. I run in the door, put the kids together, and head out to William's haircut since Jen was working. That went very well with Andrew behaving (pretty much) and Christopher behaving as well. By the time I got home I was done for the day. We spent the rest of the day just playing and watching TV.

work,work,work...hello boys... I missed you

2009-05-09T22:03:00.002-05:00

I think the blood is finally getting back into my hands. Friday we had to go in and sign the 200 pages of B.S. for the refinance of our house. Yeah, I figured we killed at least 4 or 5 trees, but I guess it's worth gaining a whole point. It just amazes me all the crap that you have to sign and date. Half of it I really don't know what it was, but I am just there to sign and sign and sign. Lucky for us Jen is on top of things and found $300 they were trying to charge us that we have already paid. Let me just say that the person working for our guy at the bank is a total ditz. Which installs a lot of confidence in refinancing your house. An HOUR later after "autographing" paper work we were finally done. I hadn't really planned on an hour so I had to bust butt back up to Auburn to get to an event that we were doing in the afternoon. I was hoping to run home first to change my pants since I had spilled hydraulic fluid on them trying to "fix" a door at work. Lucky for me it wasn't as noticeable after it dried up more. Anyway I will sign my name all day to be able to pay over $100 less a month on my mortgage. Maybe we can actually get back to a few projects around the house. Or maybe a new TV. Nah, it will probably to go William's tuition.

busy busy busy

2009-05-06T21:27:00.002-05:00

Man the past couple of weekends have been busy. First up was an event for work. We were a sponsor of the March of Dimes "Walk for babies" in Dekalb county. Actually since I have worked with the March of Dimes for 13 years now I made sure I put a little something in the budget for them this year. Come to find out it was nothing new since work used to be more involved in past years, but for some reason just stopped. I can see how it can happen since they go through personnel at the March of Dimes like tissue paper. Just when you get comfortable with a director, they would quit or get fired. Anyhow I arranged to be a sponsor this year. I put out the word to get a group together to walk or just help at the start of the walk. I got a resounding 1 reply from my email to all employees.. and she ended up cancelling. The problem is that the March took place on the same weekend as the credit union was going through a computer conversion so it was all hands on deck for that Saturday. So I show up with some giveaways for the walkers and also bring out a 12 foot high inflatable piggy bank. Its actually a pretty cool inflatable that can also float if I put helium in it, but I am reserving that for parades since helium is so expensive. I got the idea to put air into it, to be able to use it at more events during the year. My first attempts to inflate this balloon took a little over an hour with an air compressor. I was thinking that it might be a bad idea to use it with air. But at our annual meeting as we were deflating the balloon a member came up to me and said, "why are you using an air compressor, you need volume not pressure, you should use a shop vac" All I could say was DUHHHHHH. So I bought a little shop vac that can inflate and deflate the balloon in a little over 10 minutes. So I hung out at the beginning of the March, and after they left, I grabbed something to eat and took off for the day. It was a small crowd, but there was ALOT of other stuff going on that day in Auburn.

The next weekend was the March of Dimes "Walk for Babies" for Fort Wayne. The Auburn walk takes place at 1:00pm, the Fort Wayne walk takes place at 9:00am which means set-up starts at 6:00am. You know, it's dark then. Of course as I am driving to help with the set-up. It's dark, and I am tired. All of a sudden I see a duck walking down the middle of the street. I hit the breaks and try to swerve, but *thud* oops. Stupid Duck. The setup for the walk goes pretty good for a start location. The chairperson of the walk was in charge, and the new director was walking around in a daze and not telling anyone what to do. Hopefully she will get a little more assertive if she sticks around. After setting up tables and whatnot, I was in charge of the stage area and also recruited to be an emcee for the event, but I knew I wouldn't be required to talk much since the radio sponsor was sending out some DJ's. The DJ's were guys that I knew and worked with back in the good old days so it was fun to catch up and joke around. They guy that they sent out with the vehicle and equipment was a guy that was my intern and remote tech back when I worked for WOWO downtown. The jocks showed up, but no vehicle and no P.A. system. Nothing like a couple hundreds people in a large area and no way to talk to them. I found out that he left the station without a microphone. I called him up and gave him a rash of crap, calling him a Rookie. He finally shows up and we plug everything in to find out that the DC converter to power the P.A. doesn't work. Lucky for him I had a backup and grabbed a generator that we had and plugged him in. Of course it's so late that we have to immediately start the program and rushed to get the walk started on time. Finally the relief of getting everyone started. Usually after the walk starts is when we got into setup mode for the lunch for when everyone gets back, but I had to head North for another event for the credit union. This was a kite fly for a radio station in Auburn. It was a windy freakin' day so not much kite flying was done. I had never been to this event before so I wasn't sure how it worked or how much room I would have to set up. I asked if I would have room for the balloon "pigzilla" and was assured there was plenty of room. Well I got there to a couple rows of 8 foot tables. I started inflating the pig and it pretty much dwarfed everything around me. There wasn't a picture of the event that didn't have the balloon in the background. Put the other bank there to shame. SCORE. So I hung out there for 4 of the longest hours of my life. By the 3rd hour I was seriously dragging, since I was up at 5:00am. I quickly tore that down and headed home. I felt bad for the event because of the wind, but it looked like a fun event.

It kind of sucks that I have to work weekends every once in a while, but I basically set my own hours during the week. I am just thankful to be employed, and the events are pretty fun to do.

Death from above

2009-04-17T21:31:00.003-05:00

So for Christmas my dad got the boys (and me) one of those little helicopters that you do a quick charge with and then you can fly it around the room. Ironically I got Dad one of those helicopters too, since he loves a good toy. This toy is the coolest thing. You can't really control it that well, but with some skill you can get it to hover pretty good and kind of control where it goes. William is actually pretty good at it and can control it pretty well. Andrew on the other hand, is full-throttle, let's slam it into the ceiling, flyer. It helps having the high ceiling in the family room to give us a little more fly room. We WERE having fun with the copter until "the incident" Usually I would only let the boys play with this helicpoter when I am in the room and can help them with it. So we are flying it in the room the other day and I had to run upstairs to put Christopher down for his nap. I hear the boys laughing and giggling, but then also hear, thud, crash. Oh crap that is not good at all. I get downstairs to see that the boys had flown the helicopter onto the mantle and knocked a candlestick off. Of course it is part of a special Cinderella set that was a wedding gift for us, so not a typical run of the mill candlestick. I have been doing some searching on the net hoping to find a replacment for prince charming (he is the one who took the header onto the bricks, Cinderalla is fine) but no luck so far. There is a reason that we don't have Jen's Disney stuff around the house. Because we have 3 boys and me. So the helicopter is now an outdoor toy...

the good and the bad

2009-04-17T21:11:00.002-05:00

Well there is good news and bad news. The good news is that we now have a brand new laptop with a 17 inch monitor that is humming right along. The bad news is that the old laptop crapped out with alot of pictures that weren't backed up. I just need to hunt down some of them. Like pictures of Christopher's first birthday. I posted a few on my blog. I know the video of William's first swim lesson is posted on my yahoo video acount. I stopped putting pictures in my flickr account since I was filling it up. I probably should have splurged and paid for the yearly service for unlimited pictures rather than just the free accounts. There is also a way to undelete pictures on my old video card, but I am not sure I want to try and play that game.

It seems like the new wireless modem/router is working pretty good right now.

I am not sure having the new computer will get me back to blogging any more than before, but there is alway hope.

Don't move anything...

2009-03-21T21:42:00.002-05:00

So the other day Jen calls and says the wireless is down. She has verizon do a test and they tell us that our modem is crap. I get home and do a few things and sure enough it won't stay connected to the line. In Jen's conversation with Verizon they tell us that they can replace our modem/wireless router for $70. That seems a little steep, so I decide to to a little looking around. Come to find out the $70 deal is actually not too bad for a modem/router. But in my looking I am finding quite a few of the exact model on ebay. They aren't new, but they are a lot cheaper than $70. I haven't bid on ebay in years so I was surprized that I remembered my login and password for that and paypal. I find one that is supposedly almost new so I put in a maximum bid of $30. They have some others for $24 "buy it now" so I figure $30 would be good enough to get it. OF course I have to do my bidding at work (secretly) since we don't have dsl at home. The auction ends at night so I decide to try and take a look at it, just in case I do get outbid. I still have my netzero account that I can dial into at home for just such an emergency. I am trying and trying to sign on and it won't let me. This is where I find out that John Q has disabled my laptop modem because it was interfering with the dsl. Crap. I could have tried the tower upstairs, but wasn't that concerned. I get into work the next day and I was outbid. I bid for another one and keep to around $30 for the modem. Unfortunatly with the second one the shipping isn't free and it costs $9.99. I actually win the auction and I am sure that the actual shipping on this will be far less than $10. Freakin' rip off.

So I am sitting here waiting for my modem to arrive and I come home to pandelerium a couple of days ago. The phones are out, the TV doesn't have any volume, the kids are hungry and whining (found out later that William has fluid in his ears), and Jen is at work. The TV problem is nothing new. There is a problem with an internal sensor that doesn't allow you to turn the volume up and will turn off the TV. After some searching on-line I found an answer to the problem that allows me to go into a secret menus and reset the factory settings that solves the problem. I have printed out the instruction for the reset and also bookmarked the page with the instructions, but I don't have internet connection so I have to look for the print out. Jen has filed the printout and tried to tell me where it was, but I can never find anything in her "filing". So I ditch that problem and on the next, fix the phone and feed the kids. I figure the phone thing would be simple. Call the phone company, they send someone out to fix the phone. The is soooo far from what is actually required that it's laughable. First of all you have to call this number and go through menu after menu after menu and just hope that you get to a person. While you are going through the menus you can either dial in the numbers or speak a command which almost never works. They test the line and finds out that the problem isn't in their line. The phone died in the middle of a phone conversation so I am thinking that somehow it's still connected. During one of the numerous menus I can do a self test which requires opening a box on the outside of the house and plugging in a corded phone. I find that I get dial tone so the problem is definitly the phone. I go inside, unplug the cordless phone, wiat for a few minutes, plug it in, and it works. Sigh. So feed the kids and turn my attention back to the TV. The modem for the dsl has been off for a couple of days, and I am thinking that maybe I can get enough of a signal to let me access the website. I turn it on and here it is, 3 days later and it's still working pretty good. I don't know if it just needed a little break to reset itself or if we are just lucky it's working, But hey I have a backup on the way....

shhh.. don't tell anyone

2009-03-16T08:17:00.004-05:00

DSL went down at home.. logging on at work real quick to tell my loyal listeners and to list the stuff I want to blog about.

1. william's swim lessons with video
2. DSL fubar - ebay auction
3. hellicopter accident and I am in the doghouse
4. basement remodel

I am sure there is more.. hopefully I will be back up again soon.

bye

Propane and propane accesories

2009-02-20T23:10:00.004-06:00

I had a bright idea when I was putting away my stuff before winter. Since the cover for my grill was falling apart (after lasting one season) I decided to put it in the garage for the winter. Yeah I know I should store it inside every winter,but I didn't have enough room to fit the grill in the garage every year. Anyway I decided that if I am going to put it in the garage that I was going to put it somewhere that I could get access to it easily and possibly use over the winter. I enjoy a grilled steak rather than the George Forman way. Well the best laid plans of mice and men only saw me use the grill once this winter. It sounded like a good idea to use the grill in the winter, but it didn't heat up that well, and I still had to go out into a freezing garage to watch the meat. The second time I used it was last week since the weather was getting warmer and it wasn't as bad standing outside. I fired up the grill and went inside to get the meat while it heated up. After a few minutes I walkoutside to find the grill barely warm and notice that there is no flame. No propane. Little did I know how close I came last season to running out of propane. I know that I had to be getting close, but at least it happened now rather than in the middle of a party or when the meat was half done. So I will either head out pretty soon to refill the tank or maybe just wait until the season begins, since I wasn't using it that much anyway. Hopefully the season will get her soon.

Are you kidding me?

2009-02-20T22:53:00.002-06:00

For St. Valentine's day I stopped by the Debrand's store to pick up a little something for Jen. It's her favorite chocolates, but I can't stand the stuff. I don't think it's worth the extra $$, but it's her favorite. So I walk in the store and they have a display of heart shaped boxes already made up and ready for purchase. They have 1/2 pound, 1 pound, and 8 pound heart shaped boxes. I see they have a price list on the counter and it says that the 1/2 pound box is $29.99. Even though I buy Jen a box of Debrands a couple of times a year I can never remember how much I usually spend on it. I am getting ready to as for it when I decide to look around a little bit since she also likes the Truffles. I ask what kind of candy is in the heart shaped box and she tells me that it's the same candy that is in the 1/2 pound rectangle box. So I continue to look a little and I happen to hear the lady next to me ask how much the rectangle shaped box is, and the lady behind the counter says that it is $19.99. Wha? The counter lady comes back to me and I ask, "so the chocolate is the same, but you are charging $10 more for a heart shaped box?". She says "Yes". I was close to leaving this rip-off place, but remembered that it's Jen's favorite, so I buy a rectangle box. As I am leaving I notice that I could have bought an empty heart shaped box for $1.95!! WTH??? I know things will become inflated around the so called holiday, but dang....I also found out that they charge like $2.50 for ONE truffle. I just don't get it..

Pre-St. Valentines Day

2009-02-14T23:17:00.002-06:00

So Jen had to work on St. Valentines day (today) so we decided to go out for dinner last weekend. We were able to pawn the kids off on Grandma and Grandpa for a couple of hours. I was trying to angle for a sleep over night at the grandparents, but we couldn't quite work it out. So we drop the kids off and make a run for it. The next question is where. This is always the biggest question we run into since we hardly ever go out to dinner anymore. Do we go to one of the "usuals" or try something new. I was hinting at trying something new, but Jen saw a special dinner deal at Olive Garden (one of her favorite restaurants). I kind of like the restaurant, but haven't quite found a favorite dish that I like there. So we finally decided to head over and try it. We go in the front door to a packed lobby. Typical Saturday night in the Fort. We put in our names to an hour wait. We almost went somewhere else, but hey, we weren't really in a hurry to get back to the kids. Occasionally they would bring around a pizza to the people waiting which is a nice touch and makes waiting a little less of a hassle. There was always a chance that it wouldn't actually be an hour, but just our luck a little over an hour later we were finally shown to our table. We are greeted by our waitress "Destiny", I almost asked if she was working down the road later on that night, but she would have bent the pole :). After sampling a nice little wine we finally decided on our entrees. Jen went for the special she saw advertised on TV, but I was being a little different and decided to go for a Parmesan Talapia with pasta that sounded pretty good. "Destiny" didn't bother to write down the order. A little while later we were munching on our salad and bread sticks. I tried a pretty tasty Italian beer that I might get for special occasions. They bring our entrees and Jen's meal looks delicious, but they try and hand me the seafood Alfredo and I tell them that's not what I ordered. I feel sorry for the girl bringing out the entrees since she isn't our waitress so she has no clue that it's wrong. So they take the meal back to the kitchen to make the correct one. Pretty soon the manager comes over to the table and apologises profusely and tells me my dinner is free and that he is buying dessert for us. Then "Destiny" comes over to apologise and swears she hit the right button. Unfortunately my meal is one that takes a long time to make so Jen and I visit and I snack on her meal which is delicious. Finally my dinner arrives and it is very good as well. (I might have a favorite.) I also notice that when I was pulling my chair in that it was very loose. I figure that if I move the chair enough and it breaks that I will get more free stuff :). During all of this I kept wondering if the Cramers were in the area since most of this stuff usually happens to them. I found out at Joshua's birthday party that they were in the restaurant next door earlier in the day so we figure it was just residual ju-ju that effected us. We finally got back to the in-laws a little before 10:00pm which is waaaayyyy past bedtime. We get everyone home and into bed a little before 11:00pm. During the night both boys come to visit and then they are up promptly at 7:00am the next morning. sigh..

Thought this was just funny

2009-02-14T23:16:00.000-06:00

Busted

2009-02-01T13:51:00.003-06:00

I was just busted by the kids.

There are certain programs on TV and video that we don't want the kids to see. Some things Jen and I agree on and some I don't see the harm in. Like if Harry Potter is being aired on broadcast TV then it should be edited enough to be alright. Sometimes I think we might be a little over protective with some things, but then again they don't really need to watch some of this stuff until they get a little older.

Anyway, one of my little indulgences is the TV show "cops". I only get to see it on Saturday nights, or if I get a chance to watch it on-line. In Jen's mind this show is a dead-lock "NO", but to me it's a "ehh it's not that bad". So usually Jen is working Saturday nights and I will catch parts of an episode. The kids are usually running all over the place and not paying attention anyway, but they must have been paying attention a little bit. The other day the boys see a police car and both yell out "BAD BOYS!!" which is the theme song for the show. At first Jen thought it was cute, but then thought that the only way they know the theme song is that they are watching it. BUSTED... At first I was trying to play it off that they must have been runing by when I was watching it and caught bits and pieces, but then last night when Jen got home from work, William speaks up and says "Momma, we watched bad boys tonight". Busted again.

I miss the days of being able to say or do whatever around the kids. Now it's watch my language, and be carefull what I am watching. Pretty soon I am going to have to watch what I type. Crap.. I mean crud..

Whewwwww... do not go in there......

2009-02-01T13:10:00.003-06:00

I think I caught the flu from Carrie's kids. Thank God it wasn't the puke-fest that she had at her house, but I didn't want to get far from the bathroom for OTHER reasons. It all started last weekend. I had a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach, but this time of year it's nothing new for some sinus drainage to upset my tummy, but this one didn't feel quite. Anyway we took the family over to the in-laws on Sunday for lunch and I decided to run home to try and get a few things done around the house. After getting home I wasn't feeling that well but muscled through and got a few things done around the house. After that the body said "you are done". I was feeling extrememly weak and tired. I just sat down and just stared at the TV. The nice part about the day is I didn't have to go back and pick up the kids at the in-laws since Jen drove separate. They got home and I just kind of vegged in front of the TV for the rest of the night. I was feeling chilled so headed to bed. As soon as I got in bed I started shaking (almost violently) and couldn't stop. The bed was skaking so bad I was surprised that it didn't wake up Jen. Finally after what seemed like an eternity the shaking stopped and I fell asleap.

In the morning I got up and started getting ready for work. I was really feeling like crap, but I have powered through feeling like crap at work before, but this didn't feel like the usual. After getting out of the shower I just threw some sweats on and told Jen that was all for the day. I actually called in sick for the day which is something that I hardly ever do, expecially now that I get paid for any unused sick days. Unfortunatly Jen had to work all day, so as well as not feeling well, I also had to watch the kids. Jen's mom did volunteer to still come over and watch the kids, but I thought I could deal with it all pretty well. That was a mistake. I could have really used a nap in the morning and the afternoon. I didn't have any appetite either, but I tried to drink alot of fluids and maybe had a cracker or two. Saturday night is when I started the first of MANY trips to the bathroom and started pumping in the Immodium AD.

Tuesday morning I stayed to the routine, got up and showered, but again after the shower I headed back to bed and called in sick. Two sick days in a row is unheard of for me ever, but even though I felt a little better I really didn't want to spread this crap to the co-workers. Unfortunatly once again Jen had to work so I also watched kids for the day. I finally got smart and had my mom come over in the afternoon to help me with the kids and to allow me to grab a little two hour nap in the afternoon. Still no appetite for the day, but trying to keep the fluids in me was quite the chore since I didn't want to get dehydrated. This is going to sound a bit gross, but finally by the end of the day, the trips to the bathroom were getting to be more gas than liquid, and finally just gas. There is nothing like having the confidence to let one rip. Which also helped my stomach.

Wednesday I got up feeling alot better. I headed to work and tried to take easy for the day and avoid people, (Just in case). Which is fine, since most people were avoiding me. By the afternoon I could have really used a nap, but just stayed at my desk trying to get a few things done. Having not eaten for two days I was planning on easing back into food, but I got a dumbass attack and had a bologney sandwich in the afternoon which sat like a brick on my stomach. That hurt for a good day. So the next two days it was soups and noodles.

It's going around out there. So far it seems like the kids are alright. Jen is fighting something, but I don't think it's the same thing. Let's hope.

Christopher's Birthday

2009-01-17T14:52:00.005-06:00

Last Saturday was Christopher's first birthday. Man I can't believe that he is a year old. I called him the baby the other day, but he is a year old now. The party was just a small gathering of friend and family. We kept the party as simple as possible with just hot dogs, chips, and snacks. It seems like with all of the kids birthday's that there is usually a weather issue. Without fail it snowed a couple of inches overnight. Our driveway basicly sucks during winter because it is so steep and gets real slick when the snow gets packed down. More than one parked car has slid down our driveway and out into the street. I knew that I was going to have a driveway full of cars and didn't want any of them ending up in the street so I made it a point to make sure the driveway was as clean as possible. Also, my mom was comming to the party, and she just had sugury so I wanted to make sure the drive was cear. So I snow blowed the drive Saturday night, then Sunday morning, and also bought a bag of ice melt that works fantastic so by the time the party started the drive was just wet and not a bit of snow.

I didn't have a huge supply of coney sauce frozen, and I didn't have the time to put together a huge pot of it, so I decided to try out a mix that I bought that was supposed to be just like downtown, in only half the time and with half the meat needed. The instructions for the mix were a little confusing, but I thought that I put together everything correctly. Obviously I didn't because the sauce tasted like crap. It was spicy water with boiled bland meat. There was no way to save it so I dumped it down the sink. I ended up putting the sauce on that I had frozen and added some more water to it to make it stretch a little longer.

We had a pretty good turn out for Christopher's birthday and got a chance to visit with some friends that we don't see enough of. I am hoping that this summer we can get together a little more often. So after some visiting, eating and present opening, we broke out the cake. It was a very tasty Pooh cake then Jen decorated. She also put together a little cake for Christopher as well. When we put the cake in front of him he just kind of gently touched it. Unlike the other two boys who tore into the cake, Chrstoher didn't. After some help he finally got the point of the cake and tore into it a little bit, but finally just ended up hitting it. I remember Andrew's first birthday we had to take hime right up to a bath to clean him up (man what a mess). After that and a little more visiting everyone left to take advantage of the rest of the day.

ahhh I feel reconnected

2009-01-17T13:49:00.002-06:00

Well I finally got the laptop up and working again. In case you forgot, it pop and fried on New Year's eve when I tried to power it up. Well I took into a computer repair place and they confirmed that the power pack was fried, but wanted to check out the computer to make sure that the laptop wasn't the cause of the power fry. I was told that it would be $60 to replace the cord, so I wanted to make sure that it wouldn't fry again. I was told that the computer would be done the following week. OK I figure that would be alright since I still had my old CPU upstairs. Then I remembered why I hardly used the CPU upstairs. One it's not as convenient to get to as the laptop, two, it's alot slower, and three, I don't have any protection running on that one so it gets ALOT of pop up ads so I always feel rushed when I am typing. So I was told that the computer would be done on Tuesday... and waited and waited. During my waiting I decided to do a little poking around on the net. This repair place is the same place that my brother bought his new laptop from when his blew up. I really like his computer so I was wondering how much it was. I found his computer online for around $750, but when I was wandering around the computer repair store I saw that it was a little over $1000. Then I found the same computer at Best Buy for around $750 again. So I don't know if they are the exact same thing or not, but my brother got screwed by that place. I called them to find out what was holding up my computer and was informed that it would be at least another week before I got it back. So some more searching and I found my power pack for $20. hmmmmm. So I ordered it and picked up the laptop on the same day. The cord came a few more days later and after a very slow (and worrisome) power up it finally came to life. So now I am back to surfing in the kitchen and the front room. It just feels more comfortable for some reason. I am not sure if I would ever go back to that computer repair place for a repair, but I know that I will never buy anything from them. Hopefully I can get caught up on my blogging now.....

Happy New Year

2009-01-04T14:46:00.002-06:00

New years eve was real similar to last year. After getting home we packed up the kids and headed over to Jeff and Paula's for their get together. We hung out there for a couple of hours, but decided to head home around 9:30 or so for that half hour ride home. Jen and I are still into the mode of trying to get the kids to bed at a decent time. They don't really care if they see midnight so why keep them up for it. I am sure that we will start letting them stay up for new years some day, but for now we just appreciate a good night's sleep for them. Anyway, they get their late nights when the Q's come to visit. So we put the boys to bed and Jen and I have a little snack and watch Dick Clark till just after midnight. I decide to power up the laptop and see if my dad and brother are possibly on-line. As soon as I hit the power button I hear "pop" and smell the familiar smell of electronics burning. Son of a Bit**!!! I had to make sure it wasn't a freakin' Friday. After that we just put in a DVD and fell asleep a little after 2:00. The boys being ever punctual actually slept in until 7:45am. The rest of the day was kind of laid back. I took down my outside Christmas stuff. Side note to that: I was leaving on my lights until after new years, but noticed that my lights were off earlier in the week. Yep, I fried the outdoor outlet as well. End sidenote: After the lights were taken care of the rest of the day was watching TV and playing with the boys, thinking all day that it was Sunday and not Thursday. Man that will mess you up.

I took the laptop into a computer repair place and they confirmed that I fried the cord (also the power supply), so $60 to replace that. They are also going to test the laptop to make sure that it doesn't fry anything else. I started looking around at new laptops. Not saying that we have to replace it or can afford to replace it, I just like to look. I really like the new laptop that my brother got and found it a whole lot cheaper on-line. Needless to say I won't be buying anything from this computer repair place (where he purchased the laptop) unless it's something used like a monitor or DVD burner. I fired up the old CPU in William's room and it works pretty good for now. It's a little slower than the laptop and not as portable, but it's good to have a backup.

Happy New Year everyone!!!

My effed up Friday II

2009-01-04T14:11:00.002-06:00

Let's see if I can catch up on my blogging. So you might recall my effed up Friday three weeks ago (see two post below). Well the day after Christmas last week ended up being another effed up Friday, but to a bit of a lesser degree. The weather had definitely been a factor around here around Christmas, but by Christmas day it had gotten warm and melted most of the ice in the area. The day after Christmas there was rain and freezing rain predicted for overnight, but when I got up in the morning it was mostly just rain. It kind of sucks to go into work the day after Christmas, but hey I am just thankful to have a job. So I am heading to work on 69. The road conditions look a little icy, but I don't feel any kind of slipping in the Saturn so I figure that it's just on the ragged edge of being ice. So I am heading north around 60 miles an hour and keeping with the flow of traffic around me. All of a sudden one of the cars that I was following slows down a whole lot. Then I notice that the traffic going Southbound on 69 is going real slow and has hazard lights on. I figure it might be a good idea to start slowing myself down as well. Good news for me is that I am only a mile or so from my exit so I will soon be out of the mess. As I am getting near my exit I notice alot of break lights ahead of me. This is where I have to make a quick decision. I can make a quick exit on an earlier off ramp or keep going another half mile. I see break lights, but they look like they are moving so I decide to just go to my off ramp. Well as soon as a pass the early ramp the traffic goes from slow to stop probably a couple thousand feet before my exit right on top of a hill. Crap I made the wrong decision. I figure there is someone in the median or in a ditch so they will start routing the two lanes around it. Nope I just sit there. After the FIRST HOUR I am thinking that it might be worse than I thought and that I am glad that I didn't drink down the huge bottle of water in my car. People around me are getting out of their cars, but the road is a sheet of ice so they are slipping and sliding all over the place. I figure it best just to stay in my car since I doubt that getting out of my car will do any good. So I just sit there listening to the radio. I have a huge container of animal crackers in the back seat so I won't have to revert to cannibalism, which is good since I don't think I would taste that good. I also have that huge water bottle in the car, but I am thinking probably not a good idea to break into that since I have no idea how long I will be here and there is absolutely no place to go in this traffic jam. Even though I don't have to pee, thinking of it kind of makes me think I have to... So HOUR TWO. Still just sitting there, listening to the radio and trying not to think about peeing. I can't see to the other side of the hill to know whats going on and I can't get out of my car, but I finally see a state trouper go through the traffic jam to whatever the problem is. The southbound lane has some traffic flow, but they stop that as well to salt the living crap out of the road and this hill. I start thinking of a plan, in case I have to go to the bathroom. That full water bottle will do in an emergency, but I could never use it again. Finally HOUR THREE arrives and there is some activity around the jam. The guy behind me opens both of his driver side doors and just pees out the side of the car, more power to him. They clear the one lane of traffic on the hill and a salt truck backs up spreading salt everywhere. They then let us go into that lane and down the hill. All I can see is a truck in the ditch, but I can't imagine they wouldn't let traffic around that, it wasn't on fire or anything. So I get to work three hours late, but thankfully the rest of the (now short) day goes alright and everything else is melted by the time I headed home. I thought twice about taking out that container of animal crackers the other day and lucky for me I can safely use my water bottle again without it being tainted....

Chistmas '08

2008-12-30T20:07:00.008-06:00

Christmas '08 started out with a bit of hard labor. I got home around 12:30 from work. Jen and I had a couple of things that we wanted to do before going to grandma's house. I had heard that we were expecting 1 to 3 inches of snow that night so I wanted to get the driveway cleared before it started. There was about 1/2 an inch of ice caked on the drive, but it was finally above freezing which gave me the opportunity to get underneath it. Grandma C's car actually slid down the driveway and into the street while she was watching the boys. (yes our driveway is steep and it sucks). The traditional snow shovel wouldn't work so I had to break out a regular shovel to break up the ice. For the most part the ice came up pretty good, but with only a 6 inch blade it took a lot longer than usual. After an hour I was almost halfway down the driveway and had shed my coat because I was just too flippin hot. At one point I stepped on the ice to get a better angle for the shovel and ended up taking a ride down the driveway. After busting my butt for an hour and a half, I got close to the bottom of the driveway and figured that was good enough. I found out later that the snow had been cancelled, but I still wanted to take the opportunity to get the ice taken care of.

Anyway, after the ice shoveling Jen and I did a few things around the house. Since the road conditions were still a little tricky I decided to skip church for the evening. Yeah I know I should have tried to make it, but the thought of dealing with 3 kids in a standing room only church for over an hour didn't sound like fun. We loaded the kids up and headed over to mom's house. Usually Jen has to close the store on Christmas eve, but somehow she ended up opening the store so we didn't have to wait for her to show up to mom's house. When Jen closed on Christmas she would show up and be half awake for the evening. I was able to talk mom into just doing appetizers instead of a meal for Christmas eve which worked out so much easier. Trying to get the kids to sit still for any food is a challenge. We had shrimp cocktail, cookies, crackers, chips, and some other snacks. We visited and snacked and started the presents early this year. It looked like we had taken it easy this year on the presents, but by the time everything was opened (along with presents being brought from other rooms) it was a madhouse of toys for the boys. The boys got a HUGE lincoln log set that Dan had set up in the front room that was alot of fun and destroyed minutes later. More snacking and drinking later we decided to head for home. I was amazed to see that we were loading up the car by 9:00pm. Last year we were delayed leaving mom's house due to me having to clean up Andrew's puke from mom's carpet. Yet another reason not to fill the boys up with food, especially Andrew. We got the boys to bed pretty quick and still had some present wrapping to do so we were up until after midnight doing that.

Christmas morning like almost every morning the first visitors come into our room before 7:00am (yawn). We trudge downstairs and the boys immediately start playing with the toys from last night and don't even notice the stockings or the presents under the tree. We grab a little something to eat before the present carnage II begins. I am not sure how many years ago,but I remember that a tradition started in the family that we have honey buns and orange juice for breakfast on Christmas morning. Now usually the honey buns were from the Morton company, but they went out of business or stopped producing honey buns years ago. So every year I search for a reasonable substitute. I have finally found a honey bun that is real similar and I can get it at Walmart/Sams club. The kids are finally getting the idea of gifts, almost too much, and started to get a little greedy toward the end of the day. One of the gifts that I found cool too was a miniature remote controlled helicopter. William actually understands how to control the helicopter and can hover it in place a couple of feet off the ground. Andrew (el distructo) only knows full throttle which drives the chopter straight into the ceiling and then bouncing off the fireplace. I am hoping that this toy will hang around a little while longer (yeah I like playing with it too). The funny part is that I sent one of these helicopters to my dad for Christmas too. I can never decide what to get my dad so I usually send him something fun to play with or something for the pool.

After carnage II we load up the boys to go to grandma and grandpa C's for carnage III. We had a very tasty turkey lunch and then opened more presents. Somewhere during the middle of present opening I look over at Andrew.... mouth opens... and hurl. Son of a B****. Jen grabs one of her brand new tupperware containers to catch the last bit of urp. So instead of my mom's house I get to clean up Jen's mom's house for Christmas. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful and pretty nice. I took Christopher into the in-laws bedroom to take a nap and ended up freezing my butt off while trying to get him to sleep. They like a cold bedroom for sleeping and so would I, if I would have had a blanket. Every time I tired to get up Christopher stirred and woke up crying so I was stuck. After a couple of hours (and a few cat naps) I took him back into the front room. We headed home around 8:00 or so.

Overall I think it was a very good Christmas..It was nice to start Christmas eve a little earlier and have Jen semi-conscious. For the most part the boys were very well behaved and Christopher stayed away from the tree. Their new thing is that every toy they have MUST be out of the box that it came in even if they don't plan on playing with it.

Ice Ice Baby

2008-12-30T19:43:00.004-06:00

Thought I would put some pictures of the ice storm that hit the Fort last week. The above picture is the rose of sharon tree that is usually straight up in the air. I thought for sure that the limbs would break or the tree would split since it alreay has a bit of a crack in the trunk. After the ice melted the tree rebounded pretty well. I have quite a few small branches down in the back yard, but I am not stranger to that since it happens all year long.

I would love to post a video I took but blogger still won't let me load in video for some reason. If I get time I might look into that. Who am I kidding. I barely have time to blog.

My perfectly effed up Friday

2008-12-21T11:54:00.003-06:00

** I appolgize in advance for any expletives that this entry might contain ***

My effed up Friday started Thursday night when I got home from work. I walk in the door and see William asleep on the couch. Now usually he doesn't sleep in the afternoon unless he is sick, and even then he hasn't slept in the afternoon in quite a long time. Usually a little side effect of his napping is that he is a bear to go to bed at night. The good news is that he doesn't have a cold, the bad news is that he was a bear to go to bed. Jen had to work Friday morning so the alarm has to go off at 5:30am. I would like to go to bed since it is going to be an early morning, but William keeps coming out of his room because he isn't tired. He went from just walking out on the landing to going into his brother's room and jumping on him (which Andrew doesn't budge, man, he's a heavy sleeper). Finally after midnight I just take him into our bedroom and set up a pillow and blanket on the floor for him to crash. I am not sure how much longer he was awake, but I only made it a few minutes before I was sawing logs. The 5:30 alarm came wayyyyy too early, so Jen got up and started getting ready with William sleeping on the floor. She informs me that school is cancelled for the day so that will make is easier on the babysitters not having to cart all the kids around to drop off and pick up William. Around 6:15 Andrew comes walking in the room and I try to get him to sleep next to me for just a little longer, but he is persistent that he wants and needs his "cereal and milk" ASAFP. He is real persistent about needing it as soon as he wakes up. The child has not patience (what kid does). As I am following him down the hall to get him "HIS PRECIOUS..." the power goes out in the house. Crap. So I take Andrew downstairs and get out the flashlights that I have stashed away for just such emergencies. I have come to find out that if a cricket farts it will knock out power to our grid so I have started putting together these kits so I know where they are. If the kids get ahold of them they become playthings so I can never find them and usually they have dead batteries. It really sucks being on the edge of the grid, I know that we are because I can look across the street and see their freakin' Christmas lights. I know it's not their fault they have power and we have a crappy grid, but it still pisses me off. The last time our grid went down for whatever reason it was gone for an hour or so, but in looking outside and seeing all of the trees bent over with ice I had a feeling that it would be alot longer. So I help Jen get out of the garage so she can leave for work and I run upstairs to get ready myself. We called Jen's mom (we knew she would be up at 6:30am) and arranged that I would drop the kids off to her house on the way to work. So I am trying to get myself and the 3 boys ready to go in the dark as well as bottles and food, and etc. It's so funny how I would still turn on light switches while going through the house, just a force of habit I think. Now usually if I leave at 7:30 I can make it to work on time, but trying to get everything packed up wasn't going to let that happen so I knew I was going to be a little late. Before I leave I go down to the basement to check out the sump pump since I can hear the back-up running. The back up pump is doing it's jog pretty well, but it seems to be running quite alot. This is where I notice that the check valve on the pump is not working correctly again and its allowing the water in the pipe to back up into the sump so its working twice as often as it should. I forget how long the battery is good for on this system, but I am thinking that it is 12 hours. So I load the kids up and head out on some real nasty roads. The mains aren't too bad, but the secondaries are dangerous. Of course the in-laws live 3 miles down on a hilly county road so that was real interesting. As I pull up to the in-laws house I hit the garage door opener and ... nothing. Finally I go up to the front door where my mother in law greets me and says that they just lost power. She tried to call me (oh by the way did I mention that my cell phone was dead) and let me know. So after debating what to do I decide to take the kids to my mom's house since the in-laws are on a well so they don't have any running water and my mom still has power. So I load the kids up for ride to my mom's house. She lives down the street from me so I had to backtrack almost all the way back to my house dodging trees hanging in the streets and broken limbs. Finally I head up to work and notice that the further North that I go the less ice there is on the trees. I get to work an hour and a half late,but ended up having a pretty good day there. How sad is it that the best part of my day was working. I kept calling the house hoping that the answering machine would pick up, thus letting me know that we had power again but no luck. After getting off work I headed home to check on things like the sump pump and the cat. Surprisingly it wasn't that cold in the house, I think around 60 degrees. I did notice the sump back up was still going off pretty often so I decided to try and drain the sump out to see if I could conserve a little of the battery life since it had been 12 hours of it running. Before getting the battery back up for the sump pump, the plan for getting power to the sump in an emergency was to plug into a DC converter that we bought for the car and run the pump. This was my ultimate back up plan before the battery. Of course I had never tested it and just assumed it would work. So I hook everything up and.. nothing. I couldn't even plug it an extension cord into the converter without it freaking out. Thank God I didn't have to use it before the battery or I would have been totally fubared. So I am trying to think of what to do next. I know there probably isn't a generator to buy or rent on this end of town and I am not sure I want to try getting another converter. I ended up heading over to mom's to have a little dinner and make a plan of attack with Jen. I have a little dinner and just sit there dazed, trying to think of what to do next. The boys and Jen are going to spend the night at grandma's and I decide to spend the night at our house to keep an eye on the sump and run the gas fireplace to get a little heat in the house so it doesn't get too cold for the cat or the pipes. After eating I am getting ready to head back to the house and the boys are in with grandma in her bedroom watching Christmas shows. All of a sudden I hear Andrew scream. Now I know Andrew's screams and this is the serious one. I take off to the bedroom and see mom running Andrew into the bathroom with blood running down his face. Supposedly mom's dog Willie was asleep on the bed and Andrew startled him, so Willie bit him on the face. We are working on cleaning him up and he calms down a little bit. The one gash on his lip looks pretty deep so I decide to take him to the ER just in case. So we load up Andrew and take off for the hospital. Of course we have to head home first since that's where our new medial insurance cards are. As Jenny is inside grabbing the cards I tell her to grab her frozen breast milk so we can store it in mom's freezer, just in case, but we were too late and all of her milk (or "white gold" as I call it) was already defrosted, but good news the sump was still running. So we take Andrew to the ER and got in pretty fast since no one in their right mind would be out in crappy weather like this. The doctor didn't see a need for stitches since it wasn't deep enough, so they just cleaned him up and put some medicine on the cuts. Thinking about it later, I think the doctor was a guy I went to grade school with, but I didn't make the connection since I had alot of other crap to worry about. This is the third time that Willie has bit one of the boys. So we get back to my mom's house and get the boys situated with their sleeping bags and pillows. I head back to our house and try to settle in and get some sleep. I took everything out of the fridge and put it outside to keep it cold. I should have done it earlier,but I just wasn't thinking straight. Everything in the freezers still looked pretty frozen. I start a fire in the fireplace, but it hasn't been on in years so the whole house gets filled with a burning smell for a while. The smoke detectors are beeping every couple of minutes to let me know the power is out and they are running on batteries since they are tied into the house electric. And the sump is running like crazy. So with the fire going, I crank up a radio (I actually had to crank it to get it to work) and listen to Christmas music. My old reliable Mag flashlight goes out with a burnt bulb (of course). I ended up going downstairs and manually emptying the sump pump with a bucket, thinking that it would be good for a while. I am settled in front of the fire with a beer thinking if I can just ignore the beeps of the smoke detectors that I can catch some sleep. Nope. The sump alarm goes off again, so back down to empty the sump. I am heading back down every 10 minutes and bringing up 3 buckets of water at at time. One of the times down there I notice one of the system lights is indicating that the battery is nearing a full discharge. The only way I can think of recharging this battery is to run it upstairs and jump it with the car. So I am past exhaustion, smoke detectors beeping, winding up the radio every few minutes, going downstairs every 10 minutes to empty the sump, I am preparing myself for a looooonnnggggggg freakin' night. It's a little after midnight when I am heading upstairs from the basement with another bucket of water when I hear some humming. But it wasn't the hum from the sump pumps, it sounded like the hum of the furnace, but there wasn't any lights on in the house. Then I remembered that I had turned them all off in the morning. I hit the switch in the kitchen and Thank God there is power. Rather than go back to mom's I decided to spend the night in the house in case the power went out again so I crashed on the couch. At 5:30am the garage door opens as Jen stopped by the house before going to work to brush her teeth (I forgot to pack that). I threw the food back into the fridge (saved most of it) and headed back to mom's. I ended up crashing on her couch until Andew woke up promptly at 6:50am and we were up for the day. As quickly as possible I packed up the kids to take them home. I figured that it would be easier to watch them at our house and I could possibly take a few cat naps while they played around me. I ended up having enough energy in the afternoon to make Christmas cookies. Jen got home and took a little nap in the afternoon as well. Later that night the in-laws came over to watch the boys while we went to MR's Christmas party. They still didn't have power so with babysitting the boys it was also an opportunity to take a shower, do some laundry and grab some water for flushing toilets. We had alot of fun at MR's party. It's so nice being around adults and not having to worry about what the boys are getting into. We ended up staying until after midnight which is alot later than I thought we would last.

All of the trees still have a ton of ice on them so there is a chance that we could loose power again, especially with it being a windy day outside. Currently it's 4 degrees outside and they don't call for temps to be anywhere near 30 degrees until the middle of the week, so we have all week to wonder if we will loose power again. My flashlights are ready .....

let it snow, let it snow

2008-12-07T21:42:00.002-06:00

So the plans for the weekend were kind of busy Saturday, but Sunday was looking pretty good. Saturday morning we woke up to a snowy day. Just enough to coat the ground and the streets so driving was very nasty. Jen had to get up and go into work so the boys and I had kind of a lazy day. Well as lazy as it can get chasing 3 boys all over the place and trying to keep Andrew from distroying the house. Jen got home around 2 oclock so I trudged outside to shovel the driveway. There was only about an inch on the driveway, but I try and keep ahead of it if I can before we drive over it. The driveway clears much easier when you aren't hitting tire tracks. After getting the driveway done I had to do a little repair on the snow blower. The last time that we used the blower, Jen broke it. I think she did it on purpose so she wouldn't have to do it again. I mean she uses it once in 7 years and breaks it? (well maybe not once.... twice). When she was priming the blower and the primer bulb falls apart. I figured that I better get it fixed since you never know anymore when the "big one" might hit. I stopped by a local outdoor equipment place and plunked down $1.89 for a new one.I thought it might be a whole assembly, but it was a simple piece of rubber. Anywhooo after shoeveling I am out in the garage trying to get the new bulb put on. I am trying to follow the guys instructions on how to replace it, but it isn't going like it should (of course). It would go so much easier if I could pop out the primer assembly since it is only clipped in, but I am real hesitant on how much pressure I can assert on the clip seeing how the blower is at least 10 year old and knowing my luck I can hear "snap... sigh.. crap" in my future. Finally I decide to give it a little more ooomph since the new bulb is real tight and since I am outside in 30 degree weather it's loosing it's flexibility. So I close my eyes, say a little prayer, and give it a little more and "pop" it comes out and doesn't break.. whoo hoooo. After getting the assembly off ,the blub goes on very easy and then snaps right back to place. I put everything back together, throw in a little gas, and crank it up. With the help of electric start it starts very easy and runs pretty good. After getting that done I come inside to thaw out a little bit. Then Jen and I get ourselves ready to go out. Saturday night was my company Christmas party. The in-laws get over around 5:30pm with stories of very nasy roads. We head out and up to the Bridgewater Country Club in Auburn. It was a pretty nasty ride up to a very nice country club. Since this is my first Christmas party at this company I am not sure how things work, so Jen and I sit down at the table with a couple of tellers that I know. I was going to take Jen around and introduce her to some people, but we were already late because of the snow and I wasn't sure if they would do an introduction thing (which they didn't). So we just sat there and talked to the other people and had dinner. There were some very tasty appetisers as well as delicious entrees of almond crusted steak with garlic/butter potatos. After dinner they did a contest where you had to guess the employee from their baby pictures. I got 7 right just out of shear luck and guessing. After that the party was basicly over. I had the chance to introduce Jen to a few of my co-workers, but not as many as I could have. We headed for home and the roads were actually better beause they were more slush than ice.
Sunday Jen didn't work so I thought it would be another lazy day... I was wrong. I got up and went to 8:30 mass, home to have a quick breakfast, and then out the door again with Jen and the kids to 10:30 service at her church. We got a call Saturday from our friend Tracy telling us that her two boys were going to be baptised at 10:30. We showed up to a standing room only church due to the baptisms as well as a children's choir.Lately the boys have been doing pretty well in church as long as we have curious George fuit snacks, a bowl of cereal, and some water. Usually William has to go to the bathroom at least once during the service and of course Andrew has to go with us. Well today I took William to the bathroom without Andrew and he had a meltdown for Jen while I was gone. After the service we stuck around and talked to Tracy and the boys for a little bit. When we got home Jen worked on feeding the boys while I worked on dragging in the Christmas tree and decorations. Jen and I got the tree put together,but then had to work on trying to get a whole strand of lights to work. Then we had to work on getting the William and Andrew a bath for the family Chistmas card picture. So quick baths and then getting everyone dressed and out the door for a 3:50 appointment at Penny's which we actually made. The boys did very well exept we couldn't get Christopher to smile, and he actually had a nap! The photographer was having a problem with glare from my glasses so I had to tilt my head down to the point that I was looking at the floor, so I look funny in the pictures. Stay tuned to your mailboxes for a Christmas card coming soon (just ignore me). We got done there and headed home. I ran down to Pizza Hut to pick up one of those "Panormous" pizzas that was very tasty and a pretty good deal.
So here I sit with the boys (and Jen) asleap upstairs and I am looking at a Christmas tree with no lights or decoration (we just didn't have the time today). So far so good with the boys keeping away from the tree, but we will see how things go with decorations on it.

Turkey day 08

2008-11-29T22:19:00.002-06:00

So we got an other early start on the day. Man I wish there was a way to have the boys sleep in on occasion. I would teach them to just go downstairs when they wake up, but I am not sure I want them just going downstairs when they want in the morning since they might think that 3:00am is 7:00am. So we get up and I give the kids bath time so they will smell good for all of the relatives. We get to the in-laws around noonish and help with the last minute stuff. The familiar smell of something burning wafted in the house. Once again my mother in law had burned the mashed potatoes a little bit. My brother in law commented that now it was truly thanksgiving since the potatoes are burnt. I told him that it would be Thanksgiving if her gravy didn't turn out, and sure enough it didn't. I don't know why my mother in law can't make gravy. Other people started showing up and the snacking commenced. My mom and Uncle Dave brought shrimp cocktail and champagne. Unlike most gatherings before I didn't have to spend my entire day chasing down the boys since they are older, but I did still have to keep an eye on Christopher to make sure he didn't get stepped on. The dinner was delicious and I was unfortunately stuffed after only one plate. For dessert I decided to make a Hoosier pie since most of the other desserts that they have I don't like. So Wednesday night I made everything from scratch including the crust and it turned out pretty good. After we ate I was looking for a corner to curl up and take a nap,but Christopher wouldn't go down for a nap and I couldn't rock him to sleep either. Jen was visiting with her relatives so I was trying to keep him happy the best that I could. Now that Christopher is on people food it's amazing what he will eat and what he doesn't like. He liked everything that day. We ended up feeding him some more, and he turned happy again. I still say there was a good fart in there somewhere for relief. So we loaded up the crew around 7:00pm or so and we headed home. After getting home we put all the boys to bed and I made cookies for Jen's carry in at work while she headed up to bed. Jen got up at 4:30am to get to work by 6:00am for her black Friday shift. I had to work on Friday so we ended up meeting up at the in laws for left overs Friday night.

I love a parade ??

2008-11-29T21:16:00.002-06:00

One of the other things that my job entails is helping plan and put together staff to attend parades during the year. Now most of these parades are during the spring/summer, but after starting my job I noticed a couple of them on the schedule for last week. I didn't have any information about the parade in Auburn and limited info on the one in Garrett. I was trying to ask around the building to see if we had done this parade before or if we didn't, if it was worth doing it but no one could give me an answer. I was all ready to just skip this parade, but just as I was getting ready to cancel I received all of the information that I needed.. nuts.. So I decided to just make it as simple as possible. I figure I would grab mom's convert able, pop the top down, and have Penny (our pig mascot) ride in the back. I also decided to blow up some balloons to hand out along the parade and also to give us a little logo visibility since we were all in winter jackets. So the day of the parade it's snowing.. crap... I can't put the top down in a snow storm and I can't get the mascot costume wet. I am going to cancel, bu we had told them we would be there so I decided to go ahead and give it a try. I ran home to grab the car from my mom and headed back up to Auburn. Wouldn't you know it I get behind a guy going 45 miles per hour on Tonkel and get caught by a train coming into town. I have been getting caught by this train numerous times and also get stuck behind some yahoo going well below the speed limit, so I am starting to take 69 instead. Anywho, by the time I get back to town the snow has stopped and it's a clear night. I decide to have the mascot "suit up" and we headed over to the beginning of the parade with the top down. It was quite the show with our mascot in the back seat and me blowing up balloons from the truck. Of course the wind has picked up which made already close to freezing temperatures even colder. I was told when I got this job that I wouldn't have any problems getting volunteers for parades and events, but I would beg to differ. Besides myself and the mascot there was only 3 other people. I am thinking the other people are fair weather paraders. The plan was to have me drive the mascot and the other people pass out the balloons and some candy along the route. We take off and go down a couple of streets to almost no people. I am thinking that it was a mistake to do this parade, but then the number of people start to pick up. The parade is moving at a very fast pace. I thought that it would slow down a little, but it didn't so I ended up loosing the rest of the group as they stopped to pass out balloons and candy. I tried to slow down as much as I could but the group in front of me kept pulling away. We turned a corner to a huge crowd of people so it ended up being a very good PR move for us, but I will be better prepared next year. The last parade that I was in was high school so there is a definite learning curve.
The next one was in Garrett on Friday. Supposedly the branch manager had everything under control, but I thought I would head over and see if this parade was worth the $135 entry fee (it wasn't). I get over there and help the mascot "suit up" again and we walk over to a large horse trailer. They decorated the trailer with some decorations, but there needed to be alot more as well as more lights on it. I blew up more balloons to hang on the trailer, but that was about all I could do. We loaded up into the trailer and they hitched up some horses to pull the wagons. Again it was freakin cold. I should have learned from Auburn earlier in the week, but I was driving the car so it wasn't that bad. So we all load into the trailer with 7 people including the mascot and pull out along with 19 other trailers. You know the funny things about horses is that you can't control their speed that well, so we went fast we went slow, and we came to a dead stop numerous times for whatever reason. The trailers had to deal with cars cutting in and around the parade as people tried to get around it which was dangerous and a huge pain. People were scattered along the route. The trailer in front of us was throwing candy to the crowd so when the kids were searching for the candy in the dark they didn't see the mascot in our trailer at all. Of course it was dark in our trailer too and it was hard to see the mascot. Before we knew it we were on Main st. and past the "judging" stand. Then a right turn and the parade was over. Well it was almost over as we had to take the looooonnnnngggg cooooolllllldddd ride back to the starting point which seemed like it took forever. We got back and quickly dedecorated the float and loaded up. IF (and it's a huge if) we do this parade next year I will have to get involved in the decoration of the float or at least make sure there is enough lighting on it.
That should be it until spring for parades..I think they will be more fun then.

My impending divorce?

2008-11-22T23:31:00.002-06:00

This is pretty funny. Thursday Jen comes home from work and goes to the cabinet below the sink and pulls out the windex. She starts spraying her hand with it and I finally have to ask what's going on. She tells me that her wedding ring has a damaged prong on it that needs to be repaired, and she heard that windex is better than butter or anything slippery to get rings off. She has never had the ring off and over the years of having kids and other weight gain she hasn't been able to, but she has started to lose a little bit the past couple of weeks. She windexed her finger and after a little bit of tugging and twisting it finally came off. She commented how weird it felt not having the ring on and was thinking of putting on another ring in it's place. I was kidding around and told her that I trusted her and that she didn't need to do that. The pain in the butt is that the ring had a lifetime warranty on it, but due to her lack of being able to get it off she couldn't keep up on the required "check-ups" so it is now void. I might run over to where we bought it and ask, you never know. I would take it over to my sister-in-law's jewelery store to ask for a free bee repair, but I figure it's probably not a good idea in the beginning of a divorce from my brother.
Anyhooo, Friday night my mom calls and Jen answers the phone. She tells Jen that she just got a few more details about Dave's divorce. Jen's ears perk up. "Huh? What? is there something that Dave hasn't told me?". My mom quickly corrects herself and says "no Dan's divorce". My mom has always (and will always) exchange Dan and my name on occasion. I find myself doing it with my kids too. Jen told me the story, and I said, "yeah I need to talk to you later.. :)... you aren't wearing my ring anymore soooooo"

Return of the tire nazi

2008-11-22T22:44:00.002-06:00

So now that I am gainfully employed (things are going pretty good, thanks for asking) I can finally get a few things done that require money. The one thing that has been bugging me for at least a year now is the tires on the Saturn. The guys at the dealership have been bothering me at every oil change that it's time to get new tires, but couldn't quite afford it, and I didn't think the tread was that bad to warrant new tires. Finally at the last oil change I took a close look at the tires and yeah they were getting really bad. After getting my job I decided that there is no way that I wanted me or Jen to be driving in the winter on close to bald tires. But hey, they are only the original tires that came with the car 8 years ago. I figure that 92,000 miles is a pretty good lifespan for tires.I decided that it was time to go see the tire nazi again. In case you missed the first story about the tire nazi, you can read it here, or I can sum it up for you. Basically the tire nazi is a guy who owns a sh**hole of a tire place in Leo that sells tires dirt cheap. He is real gruff ala the soup nazi on Seinfeld. Leo isn't too far from Auburn so I decide to run over there during lunch on Tuesday. Along with the off brand stuff that he sells, he can also order brand name tires if you give him a day, so I decide to run over there and order the tires and then go back the next day for the installation. So I get there and enter the dump (I was kicking myself for forgetting my camera, crap) and just stand there at his desk waiting for his acknowledgment. Finally he looks up.
"What do you need?"
I need tires for that Saturn out there. I say
"Get the number" (in a ticked off tone)
Oh crap I forgot to bring the number in with me. So I run out and write down the tire number. I come back in and give him the tire number and ask for brand name tires. He tells me that it will be $280 for a set of four and the tires will be in in the morning. It would have been $220 for some off brand tires that he had out back. I thank him and take off back to work. The next day I run back over and again I go up to his desk waiting for him. "What do you need?" I tell him that I was there for the Firestone tires that he ordered yesterday. He asks me what the deal was. I say $280 for the tires. I am getting ready to hand over the keys like last time, but he then tells me to pull it around back. I pull it to the back and there are 4 high school /college kids start working on the car. I just stand there and watch them work on the car since I am not sure what else to do, and I don't feel like going back into the dump of a showroom. But hey it's a nice day outside. While I was standing there a guy pulls up that says he has a nail in his tire. I can tell it's his first time to the tire nazi since he is trying to be real friendly to this guy. The guy pulls back and parks it in the wrong place, which ticks off the tire nazi. "I didn't' want it there" he says. He looks at the guys tire and just reaches down and pulls a piece of metal out of the tread. It wasn't even a nail. So as the pep boys are putting my new tires on the tire nazi approaches me and says "$280". I motion to him that we have to go inside and start walking. He says "cash, check or charge" I tell him I need to charge it so we head in and pay the bill.
If it wasn't for the fantastic deals that I get on tires at this place I would never return to the place. It's not like I have to go there every year anyway. I figure the next time I would need to go would be for new tires for the mini-van in quite a few years.

Bowling for work

2008-11-15T21:50:00.005-06:00

Last weekend some of my coworkers were in a bowl a thon for Junior Achievement. Since it was a work related activity I decided to go up and take a few pictures. Jen had to work (of course) so I was thinking of taking the boys with me, but Andrew was in true cranky form so I decided to drop the boys off to grandma and grandma's on the way up to Auburn since it would only be for an hour or so. The plan was to run up there, take some pics, hang out and head back. I show up just as they are starting the second game. They tell me that they are one person short and to grab a pair of shoes. HUH? Let's see.... I haven't bowled in over 10 years I think. Yeah I know it's not that hard of a game and looking at the scores from the first game, it was obvious that they were there just for fun. So I grab some shoes and find a ball. It's a little awkward since they all know each other and I am still learning names, but they are hooting and holering and having a fun time so it wasn't that bad. That and I had the luxury of their names being projected on the wall for their scores which gave me a bit of a cheat to remembering their names. It was alot of fun bowling again. It took me a few frames to remember the best way for me to throw a ball and the best mechanics to use. I just kept thinking that I was lucky that I didn't bring the boys with me. We ended up having a blast. I bowled a respetable 147 which was the second best score of the two teams. I hope that this is how things work with this company. Lotsa people having fun and helping a cause. I know that there will be things for the credit union that I will be doing beyone the 8 - 5, like a couple of parades coming up in a few weeks. I am sure I will be blogging about that.

That was only a week ???

2008-11-07T22:10:00.002-06:00

Man it's only been a week at work but it feels like a year. I didn't realize how tired I would be working a full week after being off work for a month and a half. I purposely tried to stay to a schedule so it wouldn't be too hard, but it was. Unfortunately they have pretty strict restrictions on computer access so no blogging at work :(. They also don't allow surfing. They expect people to actually work during the day. WTH? The setup that I have is a little screwy. They have thin clients at everyones desk on a network, but the graphic program that I have is on the drive of this thin client, but I can't print to my printer through that so I have to turn the file into a pdf and print off the network side of the computer, so alot of back and forth. It's going to get confusing. I am supposed to get a laptop so maybe I can streamline it a little more.The graphic program is Correl Draw 4 which is an old, basic graphic program that I am learning how to use. I really wish that I could have quark or photoshop, but the version of photoshop that I have isn't exactly legal so it probably wouldn't be a good idea to put that on the network. The printer is pretty bad too. Maybe next year I can talk them into getting a better graphic program and printer.
The people that I work with are fantastic. Very friendly and helpful. Like any new job there is alot of stress of learning people names, proper procedures, trying not to set off alarms. Earlier in the week I was really stressed, but by today I was calming down a little bit more. The drive up there is actually a little less distance but about the same amount of time as my last job. I have tried a couple of different ways to go up there, but they both seem like they take the same amount of time. Either I get tied up with traffic between 69 and downtown Auburn or I get behind some yahoo going 40 mph on Tonkel. But hey, I don't have to punch a clock so it's not that bad.
Today I got a chance to take a road trip with some of the other employees to visit the other branches of the Credit Union. As we were leaving the branch in New Haven the conversation turned to eating lunch. We thought about just heading back to the office and doing our own thing, but I noticed a sign for Garno's in the complex across the street. I commented to everyone else how fantastic the Garno's grinders were and we ended up running across the street for lunch. I haven't had a Garno's grinder in years and was a little worried that it wouldn't be the same, but it was. I also found out that they make that monster pizza that they used to make. I think she said it was 29 inches across. Back in the day working at WOWO we used to take one of those pizzas and some grinders to different businesses who won a fax in lunch contest. That was a fun promotion to do. After lunch we visited the Garrett branch and then headed up to Angola. While in Angola I talked the others into heading to the butcher shop to buy some of that relish for that dip. The one lady who drove knows EVERYONE in Auburn and the surrounding area. I am going to have to get used to small towns where everyone knows everyone else.
There is good news and bad news about workng there. The good news is that I get all of those bank holidays off, but to get paid for it you have to work the day before and after, so no 4 day weekends with taking one day off. I have to work the day after Thanksgiving this year. I can't imagine that it will be real busy, but it was nice to have a 4 day weekend. oh well...

Halloween 2008

2008-11-03T20:48:00.006-06:00

I was making every attempt to calm down halloween this year. The past 2 years we have been taking the kids all over town visiting friends and family until all hours. Last year I decided to put a stop to that and just stay at home and simplify the holiday. It almost worked out.....

The first hiccup came on a phone call late in the morning. With my new job I have to wait 90 days until I get medical insurance. The paperwork that I got stated that the 90 days started at the begining of the month. No problem, I thought, start the first of November and I would have insurance starting in February. We still have some coverage provided by my last employer, but after this month we either have to find some other insurance or rob a bank to pay for COBRA. Lucky for me the HR girl at the new job was looking out for me and informed me that the 90 days started on the First day of the month as in Nov 1st rather than just the first couple of days. Since my first official day was going to be Monday Nov 3rd that would mess up my ability for insurance for another month. She told me to come in and fill out paperwork for a couple of hours so they could credit me for the 31st being my first day.Again lucky for me Jen didn't have to go into work until the afternoon so we were able to arrange for grandma C to come over and watch the kids. So rush around and get ready to head up there. I was planning on staying a couple of hours but with all the stuff I was going over and reading and signing I ended up staying until 5:00. So I rush home to find out that my mom has taken over the kid watching duty. She was planning on being there anyway to help me with halloweeners. So I walk in the door and freak out. I am trying to do too many thing at one time for some reason. Feed the kids, answer the door, dress the kids up, put a cd player with scary music in the window, etc, etc etc. So finally I get the kids dressed up and we head out to go trick or treating. There are a ton of kids walking down the road. I know there aren't this many kids in the neighborhood so they must be getting bussed in. The boys did really well even though I had to keep reminding William to say thank you. Andrew was quite the socializer and he was striking up conversations with everyone. I had to carry Christopher since I had a brain fart and left the strollers in the back of the van that Jen took to work. We just went down the street a few houses and back again. The boys actually had more fun sitting on the front porch with grandma and handing out candy. It was a great night to be sitting on the front porch, probably around 61 degrees. The kids who came out early were the younger ones who were really having fun and dressed up really nice, the later it got the older the kids became and the ruder the little bastards became. When you get a trick or treater teenager talking on a cell phone it's time to call it a night. One girl actually came up and asked "how much can I have?" We said "one piece" and she proceeded to grab a whole handful. I stopped her and almost went out the the street to have a word with her mother to teach this little so and so some freaking manners. Mom finally called it a night after a bunch of these little crumb crunchers all came up (not in costume) asking how much they could have.

Again with my brain being mush I forgot to take the van with me to work so I could bring the boys to the mall to see Jen, so after we got back from trick or treating I took off and ran to the mall to grab the van, came home and grabbed the kids, and then back to the mall again. After visiting with Jen for a while we headed for home and I got the kids to bed at a pretty decent time. Halloween was a little better this year, but there was still alot of running around again. I think I will get it better planned out for next year. I worried about running out of candy after seeing the all the kids on the street, but we actually had a little left over.

Thanks

2008-10-30T17:31:00.002-05:00

You can't see me right now, but I am doing my "I just got a job" dance. Trust me it's not a pretty site :)

I am now the marketing director of dekalb financial credit union. They have branches in Auburn, Garrett, Angola, and New Haven. I have a mixture of feelings right now. First is the "new job" feeling with meeting everyone and trying to get settled and second is the feeling of relief of being employed.

Of course it's funny that I get a job offer and then have to go pee in a cup for the drug screen. That's a new one for me.

I just wanted to pass along thanks to everyone who has sent good thoughts as well as their prayers for me and the family.

You are next mdh!!!

awww nuts..

2008-10-28T13:04:00.002-05:00

No Halloween party this year at MR's.. darn it. I made it a point to take my scrubs from Christopher's birth in January home to make sure that I would have a costume in October. Seriously, I was planning that far in advance.... I can understand him opting out of the party since the attendance had been waning the past couple of years and you never know who is available to show up with all the kids and stuff. I still have the Christmas extravaganza to look forward to this year. Whoo hooo.

This year I am sticking to my word and we are staying home for Halloween and not taking the kids all over to different locations like the past couple of years. Jen has to work so I might load up the boys and trick or treat at the Disney store. Stay tuned for stories, pictures and hopefully some video.

Life Goes On

2008-10-28T12:39:00.002-05:00

Saturday Jen tells me that the garage door won't go up. Now this is a problem that usually happens when it is bitterly cold outside. Even though it was very cold it wan't cold enough to cause this problem. I go in the garage and see that one of the springs for the garage door is broken in half. Son of a ....I thought that I just had those springs replaced a few years ago but upon further review I think I was thinking of the house on Traders Crossing. I spent the rest of the weekend manually raising and lowering the garage without the aid of the springs and holy crap that garage door is heavy. I did some calling around on Monday and got a few quotes from different companies in the area. Anywhere from $160 to $200 of money that we don't have to replace the springs. I called the one company this morning to make sure they took credit cards since that's the only way this thing is getting fixed. A little over an hour and a half later they had a van out here to repair the springs. The guy they sent wasn't overly friendly or talkative until Andrew started talking to him and then he got more friendly. While he was replacing the springs he told me that the top sprocket (spaceley's sprockets?) on the garage door was getting ready to break. Crap (again). He said it would be around $50 to replace the sprocket. I asked him if it was something that I could do to try and save a little money. The repair guy told me that I could try it, but if I messed it up that there would be another $80 service fee on top of the $50 for him to come back out again. Uhhhh no I don't feel that lucky. I watched him replace that sprocket and all I can say is thank God that I had him do it. He had to just about tear apart the whole garage door opener from the bottom up. He commented to me about other people who have tried to replace the part themselves and the things that need to be adjusted that they don't know about and parts that need to be transfered and etc etc. Yeah it was worth the extra $50. The garage door works great now and I think that the repair has actually quieted it down a little bit as well. It still vibrates in William's room pretty good, but its a little better.

There was another incident with Jen that I am not sure I am allowed to comment about. All I can say is that it's good to have insurance.......

Happy Breakfast

2008-10-27T10:05:00.002-05:00

This is the way my mornings usually start off. Usually I am up by 7:00am due to Andrew and William, and grab my shower. For some reason they both have been sleeping in the past 3 days (Thank the Lord) so I had to actually set my alarm. Don't get me wrong, they still come into the bedroom in the middle of the night. It used to be just William at 3:00 or 4:00 am, but now Andrew has joined in and will come into the bedroom too for unknown reasons. Most times it just carry them back to bed, plop them in, cover them up, and walk away. So even though I still can't get a solid 8 hours of sleep it felt good to sleep in a little bit this weekend. I bring William and Andrew downstairs and give them their juice and cereal and they will sit in front of TV and watch the PBS lineup in the morning. Then the next half hour we tell William to get dressed for school about every five minutes. Finally we have to turn the TV off for the proper motivation. William gets dropped off at 8:00am to Our Lady of Good Hope and then I come home for a little breakfast. If Christopher isn't awake when I get home I usually will wake him up around 9:00 and bring him downstairs. He usually munches on Cherios while I go through my lineup of online job sites. He gives me input on the ones that I should apply for and usually just sits there and is happy as a clam.

I can't believe that it has actualy been about a month and a half of being unemployed. It doesn't seem that long. I serously didn't think it would take this long to get another job. I don't know if it is arrogance to say that or just that I didn't have a clue how bad it was out there. I should hear about the job in Auburn by Wednesday at the latest, here's hoping.

There should be a video of Christopher helping me find a job here, but Blogger is having video problems. I draw the line at 5 times trying to download a video before I give up. I might try later on again.....

Taking a Break

2008-10-23T11:02:00.002-05:00

Don't get me wrong. I like being home with the kids and being Mr. Mom, but now I understand when Jen goes through and why she needs to have a job to get her out of the house (besides the extra money). Saturday I got an invite to get out of the house from some friends who were going to play golf. I debated about spending the money to play 9 holes on a chilly morning, but decided that I could use the break and get out of the house.The original plan was to tee off early so we could do other stuff with the rest of the day, but it was still hovering around the mid to lower 40's at 8:00am so we decided to try for 10:30. I drive all the way out to Eel River in Churubuso to meet my friend Wendy, Gina, and Gina's boyfriend Tom. I get to the couse and it's not busy at all which is fortunate since everyone in the group has only played a few times this year and Tom hasn't touched a club in a couple of years. I decided to be a little bit adventurous and use a set of clubs that I bought 7 years ago and had never played with. They were a set of used Hogan's that included the Hogan bag for $100. I tried to justify the purchase by telling Jen that I bought them for her in case she wanted to start playing golf. Needless to say I don't think the game interests her. Anyway we step up to tee of on number #1 in an almost empty course and as we are warming up two foursomes drive up to the tee. Crap, so much for a lazy day of golf. We all duff it off the first tee and struggle to play the first hole. We notice a couple of times, while searching for our scattered shots that the foursomes are waiting for us in the fairway. As we are heading to the number #2 tee we take a wrong turn and end up on the #11 tee, but we also notice that there is no one playing the back 9 at all. We decide to play the back 9 to get out of the way of the other golfers. Number #11 and 12 run right next to #2 and 3. After getting off the #12 tee we notice that the people behind us on the front 9 have now passed us so we hopped back on the front 9 to finish. Lucky for us it wasn't that crowded that we could do this but also that Wendy and Gina know the pro really well so he wouldn't get too mad at us. The scenery on the course was fantastic with the trees changing color. I kicked myself for not bringing the camera. The weather turned out to be fantastic too with the sun being real warm with just a little cool breeze. How did I play you might ask? Did I mention the scenery was fantastic? I played like crap. I was pulling everying to the left for some reason. I don't know if it was lack of practice or the different set of clubs effecting my swing. I blame both. As we were finishing the front 9 people started catching up to us again so we just picked up at #8 and called it a day. Of course on #8 is where I unleashed a huge drive that was straight and far. I got a few good shots in. We headed back to Gina's so I could look at her computer. I was just over last week and "fixed" it, but now I think it is really fubared. It was a freebee computer that I got to work, but I think the hard drive finally gave up the ghost. There might be one more chance to play golf this year if I can talk my brother into buying while he is home this week :)

On the job front I had a second interview yesterday (Wed) for a job in Auburn. This interview went so much better than the first. My sinuses weren't driving me nuts so I was more like myself and on my game. The people are real nice to talk to and I think it will be more like a family that a coporate gig. They will let me know the first of next week either way. Besides that nothing on the horizon, just lotsa resume's and emails going out.

Little did I know what a freak I was

2008-10-23T10:46:00.004-05:00

When I was helping out at the charity event a few weeks ago, one of Jen's cousins had to cut down a gift certificate to fit inside a frame. I told her to be sure not to chew her tounge. She looked at me with a "WTF" look. I said you know the thing where when using sissors that you chew your tounge or open and close your mouth. She said she had never heard of it. When relaying the story to Jen I get the same "WTH" look. I thought it was a common thing that everyone did or had at least heard about... obviosly not. Now I notice that when I am feeding Christopher that I will open my mouth, like that will help him open his. I think I will do a little research to see how much of a freak that I am or if I have some kind of mental condition. (no comments from the peanut gallary)

** Image is of the characters from Freakie's Cereal, if you go that far back. I still have a collection of these plastic pieces that might be heading to e-bay

Carley Hoffman Benefit II

2008-10-14T12:39:00.011-05:00

Last Saturday was the Carley Hoffman Benefit which is the 4 year old daughter of one of Jen's cousins. She is fighting stage 4 Neuroblastoma of her spine. I hadn't volunteered for anything on the day of the event since I wasn't sure if Jen had to work or not. Also my mother in law had told me that my father in law had volunteered me for some stuff. I called him Friday night to find out that he hadn't signed me up for anything, so I just decided to show up in the morning to help with set up and do whatever I could. I showed up to a madhouse of people so I just kind of stayed out of the way waiting for direction for whatever needed to be done. The bake sale was HUGE with all sorts of stuff to buy. They let everyone set their own price so it was quite a range from $3 for 3 (1/2 inch by 1/2 inch) small cubes of fudge to $4 for a whole apple pie. There was some deals to be found, and everything went half price in the afternoon. There were a ton of auction items to bid on (almost too many). There was a couple things that I would have loved to bid on if I would have had any money. The 3 foot Repalla fishing lure would have looked fantastic in my sea shanty basement. I started off slow just folding T-shirtsand moving tables,but when they started toward the stage to set up the sound equipment I felt a little more at home. They had three auction items near the stage (a cd player, a vcr/dvd combo, and an xm satellite system) that they felt the need to pull out of the boxes and plug in. I didn't understand why, but just did as I was told. I helped set up the sound system and talked to the guy who brought the equipment. When he found out I was an old radio guy we talked about old equipment and stuff that he used to have and just general sound geek talk. My father in law also runs a sound system at his church so with all of us we had the sound up in no time. After that I headed outside to help set up the kids area. They had a couple of moon walks and some other kids games to keep the kiddies entertained. I noticed that they had an old cotton candy machine too. I had used one of those many years ago at a radio promotion, so when they found out that I had some experience with the machine they dubbed me cotton candy man. I spent the next 5 hours outside making cotton candy. Don't get me wrong it was a fantastic day, but dang it was hot out on that parking lot all day. After a while Jen showed up with the boys. William had a blast in the moon walks, but Andrew was extremely cranky (we found out later he has an ear infection) so we spent most of the time carrying him around. We tried to get him into a moon walk but he wasn't too keen on that idea. Around 5:00 the crowd had really died down and there wasn't any kids ouside so I thought it would be a good time to take the family home. I felt bad that I wan't able to donate any money to the cause, but felt that I was doing my part in volunteering. Jen did end up buying some stuff at the bake sale so we did contribute a little bit. The event went well into the night with a live band and some other stuff to make money. Overall they made $21,000 for the family to help pay some of their bills. It's probably no where near what they will need when everything is finished, but at least it will help out a bit.

Que?

2008-10-14T12:19:00.004-05:00

When we took the boys to see Wall-E we saw a preview for Beverley Hills Chihuahua. It looked like a bad/cute movie. Well the boys went nuts when they saw the preview, then they started seeing the ads on TV for the movie. I can see they they were excited about the chee chee wha wah movie (as they pronounce it). Well last week my mom treated the family to the movie. We got the extra bonus of seeing it at the Cinema Grill which means dinner and a show. Mom had never been to the Cinema Grill before so this would be her first experience. I wasn't too worried about a crowd being there since it was a Wednesday afternoon at 4:00. I think it was us and one other family. We got settled in and ordered our food. The boys got chicken strips and fries but were so mesmerised by the movie that they barely ate anything. My mom and I both got a small pizza and pitcher of beer, but we were both still hungry after eating this pretty tasty but non filling pizza. I think we should have got a sandwich like Jen. Anyway the movie was a typical cute/dumb/entertaining for children kind of movie. I don't recommend it without kids, unlike some other Disney movies that can be entertaining for adults too, this is not. (I think the beer helped) There is some humor aimed at older people, but not too much. I think mom enjoyed the experience of the Cinema Grill and will probably go again some time, just not for a meal. Next on the agenda of movies is Madagascar 2 which begins in a couple of weeks.

Carley Hoffman Benefit

2008-10-09T09:47:00.004-05:00

Here is the info for those of you who did not get my email about the Carley Hoffman Benefit for this weekend. Carley is the 4 year old daughter of one of Jen's cousins. On July 23rd 2008, 3 year old Carley was diagnosed with high risk, stage four Neuroblastoma. Neuroblastoma is a childhood disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in the nerve tissue of the adrenal gland, neck, chest, or spinal cord, causing tumors to form. In Carley's case, the cancer appears to have started in her spinal cord.

On October 11th, 2008, at the American Legion Post 296 in Fort Wayne, a benefit event will be taking place, with all proceeds going directly to Carley's family.

1st Annual Carley Hoffman Benefit

October 11, 2008

11:00 am - 11:30 pm

American Legion Post 296

130 West Tillman RoadFort Wayne, IN

Cost: $15 per person or $20 per couple (children 12 and under are covered by an adult admission)

Family Fun Time will be from 11 am - 6 pm.

Adult activities will run from 6 pm until closing.

There will be:Food (while it lasts) - pulled pork sandwiches, cole slaw, baked beans, potato saladFun for Kids - moonwalks, face painting, caricature artist (11-2), magician (1-1:30), games with prizes, cotton candy, balloon artistSilent Auction - begins at 11 am, ends at 10:30 pm. Need not be present at end of auction. See Silent Auction page for more details.Baked Goods SaleT-Shirts (available for pre-sale - see right)Music 8:00 pm until 12:00 - Chris Worth CompanyCash BarTip BoardsAll proceeds will go directly to Carley's family for medical and travel expenses.

For more details click here: http://carleyhoffmanbenefit.info/Home_Page.html

If you can't make the event but would still like to make a donation, details can be found on the website as well.

FINALLY !!!

2008-10-08T12:24:00.002-05:00

I have been waiting on word about that job I interviewed for over 3 weeks ago. The company is run by a board of directors and the hiring for the position was done by a committee that met pretty infrequently, so I kind of understood the delay, but I thought for sure if they put someone through a 3 and a half hour interview they at least call them either way. I expected an answer the week following the interview... nothing. I emailed the person who contacted me.. nothing. Finally while I was getting ready for an interview last Friday I came across a cell phone number. I called yesterday and left a message. FINALLY this morning I get an e-mail saying that they were hiring someone else. The typical non-specific blow off email that I am getting used to getting. You know, even though I think this job would have been a perfect fit for me, I don't think that I would want to work for someone who was that inconsiderate and unprofessional. I thought about following up with the person to try and find out where I was lacking in skills/experience but decided it would be futile. At least I can move on. I am hoping to hear about that other job either Monday or Tuesday of next week. I was planning on doing a follow up thank you email to the president of the company but I can't find the business card. crap.

Happy Birthday Andrew

2008-10-07T09:04:00.005-05:00

Friday was Andrews official 3rd birthday. Wow, 3 years old already. We had him just before moving into this house but it just doesn't seem like we have been here that long. Andrew is such a different personality than William. We got used to William being a relatively quiet kid who didn't get into much of anything.... then along came Andrew, just the opposite. Reminded me alot of the personality differences between my brother and I growing up. All I can say is that I wore the white hat while Dan wore the Black hat. I don't know how my parents didn't ship him off to military school when he was 14. Chistopher is probably going to be a 3rd different personality in the house as well, but he tends to be pretty quiet and well behaved for right now. I look at my boys and it reminds me alot of my 3 cousins in North Carolina with the different personalities.

Anyway back to Andrew, we decided to have his party on Saturday. Jen had to work all weekend, but we could have the party and be done before she had to work. And like I have said before I have found out with kids birthday parties that people show up, eat and leave. They don't tend to hang out for hours like other parties. We kept the party simple (and economical) by cranking up the hot dog steamer and some quick snacks. Jen brought out a couple of cake pans earlier in the week and let Amdrew choose the character on the cake. He Chose Bob the buider again. We just invited mostly family for the party. I would have loved to invite the whole cast of characters and catch up with everyone, but we just weren't able to do that. Hopefully soon. We took things a little out of the usual sequence and openend present first, since the boys were staring at the pile of presents on the table. The hot dog steamer did its usual good job and I still had a couple of containers of coney sauce in the freezer. yum. After cake and ice cream it was quick clean up and Jen headed off to work. (someone has to) The toy carnage is spread out all over the floor of the fornt room and even Christopher is getting his mouth around most of them.

oh wait, Andrew wants to type a little something for this entry:

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaa7777bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb5oooooooooo qqqqqqqqqqmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzddddddddttttttttttthhhhll

oh man I might have started something there. Usally the computer is a hands off thing. At least the laptop is, the tower upstairs I have desinated at the kids computer. Oh well, it's probably good to start him early.

Happy birthday Andrew!!!

Darn you Carrie ... or is it thanks?

2008-10-06T13:51:00.003-05:00

So I go up to my interview on Friday not feeling that good. My sinuses are really doing a number on me so I am not 100%. Just before leaving I notice that my cell phone was dead. "great". not like I will actually need it though. I was striving to get up there early, but made it just in time. I fill out an application for the job, but get to the area where I have to list my references. oh crud, those phone numbers are on my cell phone that is at home and dead. My head is spinning so much that I can't think of any other people or phone numbers at all. I end up just leaving that part blank and hoping that it won't come up. After filling out the application I sit down with the president of the company for my interview. Not an outwardly friendly guy, but not too stoggy. Not long into the interview he asks the question that is the worst interview question in the world. "What is your biggest weakness?" This is just a bad question since no one would ever answer it honestly without making themselves look bad. Carrie Q (of the Q collective) recently asked her blog readers for the best response to this question. http://caquincy.blogspot.com/2008/09/help-ideas-for-interviews.html
A couple of the responses to the question "what is your biggest weakness", were humerous and included the responses "chocolate" and "kryptonite". As soon as he asked the question, my mind started to swirl (or continue to swirl with my sinuses). Would he appreciate the humerous answer? After what seemed like an eternity I decided against the humous answer and opted for some made up B.S. I think he would have appreciated the humor, but we will see how funny this guy is if I get the job. I need to work on putting together questions to ask the employer. The Friday interview was scheduled for 3 hours but only took an hour and a half. I am not sure if I should try and fill as much of that time with inane questions, but the president covered every question that I had going in there.

Of the 50 resume's he recieved he is only interviewing 10 of them and I am one. After finishing the interviews he goes on vacation this week, so I won't know anything until the middle of October. Jen is getting alot of hours at Disney and working her butt off right now, which is fortunate for us, but unfortunate for her since she isn't used to that type of work schedule.

Yeah that 3 hour interview that I did 3 weeks ago? They still haven't told me if I did or did not get the job. I know they have not filled the position yet. I emailed her a little over a week ago to see the status, but didn't get a response. I came across her cell phone and might just give her a call. At first I was understanding that the didn't get back to me, but now I am starting to get a little ticked. Interview someone for 3 hours and not bother to let them know what happened is just not right.

I am not only the president of the company.. I am a member

2008-10-01T11:32:00.002-05:00

So the latest project to work on in my time off is replacing all of the light fixtures on the outside of the house. Originally I was just looking to replace the yard light in the front since the top was hanging on by a thread and I had cut the wires quite a few times. So it hasn't worked for most of the time we have been in this house. My plan was just to replace the yard light head and re-wire the fixture. Yes the other lights on the house were made of this quasi-brass looking stuff that was real tarnished and looked like crap, but my idea was the most economical. Jen was looking for an exact match for the other lights, but do they really need to match, being 40 feet from the house and under a tree??? I was informed that they did.. by the boss. Well we had been looking around for a yard light over the past year, but none of them were what Jen wanted. Who knows were these lights came from or if they make them any more. My mom was over the other day and commented about the lights as well. Then she offered to help us get some new lights for the outside. Not only a new yard light but new lights for the entire front of the house (so they would match). So Monday mom heads out with Jen to go shopping (always dangerous). I have an opinion about the stuff that we buy for the house, but I figure that my taste is similar to my mom's to they will pick something good out. They come home with 4 new house lights and a new yard light. I figured that the only colors that would look good on our house (with the current paint colors) would be either brass or white to match the trim. They ended up buy white fixtures that I wasn't too sure about, but after putting them up, look real good. The new lights are a different open-bottom concept that put them a little lower than the current lights. On either side of our garage are two bushes that grow up to a point. They usually block the garage lights when they grow so I have hacked them back once already. I decide to hack them back again so you can see the lights. I get out the saw and cut the bush down about halfway, then proceed to trim the outer branches to try and make them even. So I am working on making them even and cut the wrong limb leaving a gaping hole right in the front of the bush. Son of a..... There is no way to fix that problem without making both the bushes look stupid, so I do the next best thing. I grab a piece of the freshly cut bush and put in the hole. Now I can say that my bush has a toupee. I know that the "toupee" will die eventually, but maybe I can cover it with webbing for Halloween and corn stalks for the fall. Either that or I am going to start taking pieces from the identical bushes in the backyard until it grows in again. Is there bush Rogain? The house light install doesn't come without it's little problems (like most of my projects do). The bolts that came with the kit to install the lights on the brackets were too long, and the bolts from the old lights were too short. After looking through my bolt collection I decide to hacksaw the long bolts to make them work. After getting over that little problem the installation of the other lights went pretty quick with only a few distractions including the boys "helping" me and a short rain shower (don't want to work on electrical during a thunderstorm). The lights look really good and match the house perfectly.
The next project the next day was the yard light. This would require quite a bit more work since it included laying new wire to the post. Also I had to replace the post since the new fixture was white and wouldn't go with the black post. I offered to just paint the post to save a little time and money, but was out voted by the womenfolk. First things first, I go out and rip the old head off of the yard light (God that felt good). I have been wanting to do that for years. Then I pull the post out of the ground with the wiring. Somebody actually got a clue and put a conduit under the sidewalk for the yard light which made it easy to go under the walk. The new pole was probably 9 feet tall which means I would have to dig deeper than the old pole, I decided to take this opportunity to move the pole away from the tree right next to it. I call the "keeper of the tools" (my father-in-law) to get a post hole digger, since he owns every tool known to man and to see if he has enough wire to do the job. I get over there to find out that he doesn't have a post hole digger or enough wire. Nuts, there goes my back. So a quick trip to Menards for wire and some connectors and head for home. I start digging my new hole. I get down to what I think is pretty deep, put in the pole, and see that I am at least a good 2 feet away from where I need to be. So I am pounding away at this Indiana clay a little at at time with a cracked spade and not going very far. Pretty tired and sore I go into the garage to see if I can find a pole or something to help break up the clay. There in the garbage can of tools is an old ice fishing auger that I saved from the auction at the lake cottage for whatever reason. hmmmmm. I wonder if it would work on dirt. I know it looked a bit silly using an ice fishing auger on dirt but it worked fantastic. I was able to cut down another couple of feet in a few minutes. I put in the post and leveled it up, then ran the wire up to the house. I connected the wires together with some waterproof connectors so hopefully it will be able to keep the connections from shorting out like it has done in the past. I button everything up and hit the switch and it works great. As I am putting away the boxes I find that the post came with an electronic eye to turn the light on and off, but I kept tripping the breaker so I will have to look up the instructions for connecting those. Overall it was about 3 hours to install the yard light with all of the little problems and again with the boys "helping" me. Thank God that Christoper took a good nap.
Not sure what the next project is going to be. On the job front I never did hear back from that interview two weeks ago even though I know they have not filled the position. I have a job interview on Friday, but besides that there isn't anything that even looks close to something that I would want to do. We will see.

I am a cheap Date

2008-09-29T09:35:00.007-05:00

We have pretty much cut every possible non-needed expense during my unemployment. I have even given up (sniff) ... beer. (I am accepting beer donations at this time). So we aren't doing much of anyting these days. We are going to make a trip to the Zoo later this week since we had purchased a membership earlier this year so it would be essentally free. The other thing that we thought of is going to the dollar theatre at Georgetown. I think we can absorb the $1.75 per person for at least one night. We were hoping to see Indiana Jones or something else, but we found out that the third installment of the Mummy was playing. We love the mummy movies just for the adventure aspect of it and not necessarlily for the story, since they are usually pretty thin. So we call my mom over to watch the kids for a while so we can catch the movie. As we are leaving I decide to take my mom's convertable and pop the top down. I miss having a convertable and forgot how much fun they were. So we get to the theater a little late, but we figure they will have a few previews before the show and I don't believe that theater would be that crowded for a movie that had been out for over a month. I give the girl working the box office my $4 for the $3.50 admission and she gives me back a 50 cent piece. ahh the 50 cent piece, just about as usless as a penny since they aren't part of the usual change that you carry. I wonder what poor store I can stick this coin with in the future, since most places don't even have a slot in their registers for this coin. Maybe I will just throw it in the collection plate on Sunday. We go into a darkened theater and wait for our eyes to adjust and for a bright scene on the screen to see where a seat is open. We settle down in our seat just as the movie starts. Whew, good timing. Needless to say it has been years since I have been in an old theater like this that didn't have stadium seating, but the floors were just as sticky. It was wierd sitting in an old theater with everying being at a same level. The padding in all of the seats were long gone and I had a spring poking my butt the whole time, but hey you can't beat the price. The movie itself was pretty good. No it wasn't academy award winning, but it stayed pretty true to the "mummy' genre and was good-stupid and entertaining. After the movie we put the top down again for a chilly ride home with it being in the mid to lower 60's. One the way home we stopped by Burger King to grab something to eat. We had a gift card that covered most of the meal, but still a little over $9 for a fish sandwich, double wopper and two small fries is a little bit pricey. I decide this is a good time to unburdon myself of the 50 cent piece so I give it to the kid working the drive thru. He looks and the coin and just stares at it. Then he turns it over I think trying to look for a denomination on the coin. Finally I say, "it's a 50 cent piece". "oh, ok" I didn't think it was that unique of a coin. I told Jen the next time I was going to bring along some Susan B Anthony's, a saqagauia, or an old dollar coin and really mess them up. (I still have a $2 in my wallet for emergencies)We get home and eat our burger king and the boys help us eat our fries. Overall a pretty affordable night. We will have to do that again is they get some good movies in the theater...

TV full circle

2008-09-29T09:01:00.007-05:00

Back in the teenage days I seem to remember a whole lotta TV shows that I just had to watch. Shows like Knight Rider, BJ and the Bear, the Fall Guy, Simon and Simon, the Dukes of Hazard and the A Team just to name a few. Of course none of these shows were very.. how to say it.. "intellectual". They didn't require alot of thought of what was going to happen next since it was pretty much the same formula every week. With Knight Rider it was more about the car and what it could do. With BJ and the Bear it was more about semi's (I loved semi's), a couple of hot blondes (it was close to puberty), and a freakin' monkey!!! Who couldn't love that. It's the same with the Dukes of Hazard with the car and Daisy Duke. With the A team it was about blowin stuff up and shooting things. I loved these shows as a kid. When I heard they were remaking Knight Rider I groaned a little bit since I remembered it now as being pretty stupid, but my curiosity was also perked at the same time. I missed the made for TV movie they made last month, but I heard that they were making a weekly series that started last week. Wednesday came around and I tuned it in. I thought I would see if the boys might enjoy it since there are cars running around which the boys love. Needless to say the boys were glued in front of the TV for the hour. They thought the car was very cool (and so did I), but the story line was pretty inane. I am sure the boys weren't really paying attention to that anyway. I have no idea who the actors are in the show and I am not sure if I would have started watching the show if I didn't have 3 boys to pass along the Knight Rider legacy. The next day William was trying to find a DVD the cabinet. I asked what he was looking for and he told me he was looking for the car DVD. So I pulled out the Disney "Cars" DVD, but he just looked at me and said, "no, the black car". I try to explain to him that we do not have a DVD of the show, whereupon he tells me that the "store has it" and wants me to go get it. This is the fun of trying to explain a weekly TV show to a 5 year old since everything they watch anymore is in the DVD format. So I am sure that we will be planted in front of the TV on Wednesday (much to Jen's chagrin) to watch this weeks episode of Knight Rider. I have heard rumors of a remake of the A-team somewhere either on TV or in the movies. They had already remade Dukes of Hazard, and I have heard that it was pretty good, but I didn't have a chance to watch it. It makes me wonder if they will remake BJ and the Bear. Probably not. It's good to see that TV is finally getting a clue and getting away from "reality" TV and back to Sit Coms and some other shows that even though they are pretty stupid, they are at least entertaining.

Whew I need to get a job

2008-09-25T07:57:00.002-05:00

So I am trying my best to stay to a routine during my "time off" of work. I get up in the morning at 7:00am, grab a shower, and usually end up taking William to school. I made the mistake of coming home from dropping William off and watching the morning news shows like Good morning America or Today (like I do on the weekends). Before I know it, it's noon and half the day is shot. My job right now is to find a job but it only takes so long to search my websites and check my emails. Now I don't turn on the TV I seem to get more done in the morning at least. I try to keep it off all day long, but two days ago I turned it on in the afternoon while the boys were taking a nap and flipped around. I came across Judge Joe Brown which is one of these typical two people straight from the trailer go into his "courtroom" and he yells at them and awards money. It's mesmorizing and addictive to see this guy goes off on these poeple. After that was Judge Judy which is pretty much the same. I don't know why but these shows are entertaining to me. Another reason to keep the TV off and get some stuff done around the house or yard. I actually got some yardwork done yesterday that has been bugging me for quite some time now. Just a little corner of the yard that has gotten away from me, but I kicked it's butt yesterday. We are still being bombed by the acorns off the tree.

On the job front I am still waiting on word from my second interview last week. They said that they would be in contact with me the first of this week, but it's Thursday. I might drop her an email later today. I have also set up a interview in Auburn for next week that sounds like a good job as well. So a couple of things going. I am sure Jen is ready to get me out of the house, but I hardly see her due to her work schedule any more. I am sure the grandma's are enjoying their time off as well.

Take Cover !!!!

2008-09-22T10:39:00.002-05:00

Well this is something new. For the past week the tree in our backyard has been dropping what I think are acorns (or some sort of nut/seed). Of course with one of the tree's branches over our house they proceed to hit the house at all time of the day and night. Nothing like settling into bed at night just to hear "thump", "rattle rattle rattle". I already sleep pretty light due to the boys getting up at all hours for different problems, but these things only add to the annoyment. Occasionally one of these squirrel bombs hits the skylight in our bathroom for an especially LOUD thump. And the ones that fall even further to hit the glass table top on the deck are loud too. I don't remember this tree throwing this many acorns in the past. I guess the tree just had a good year or the squirrels aren't doing a very good job.

ugggggggggggg

2008-09-19T13:45:00.002-05:00

Being unemployed sucks, but being unemployed with a cold sucks worse. That time of year again when William is in school and starts bringing home bugs and colds. Usually if I was at work I would have a good chance of missing a cold, but nope, it's gone right down the line from William to Andrew to Jen to Me to Christopher. It's just the headache,runny nose, eyes burning, sore throat, drainage kind of cold (just enough to make you miserable). The kids seem to be getting over it pretty quick so I am hoping that it will do the same with Jen and I.

I have been sending out resume's and getting stuff done around the house. It still seems like a long weekend to me and I don't think that it has truely set in that I don't have a job. I am sure by next week I will have a reality check one day... probably when my head clears up a little bit more... snifff.

Unemployed doesn't mean not busy

2008-09-16T22:14:00.002-05:00

Well my first day unemployed and it was very busy. I am going to make it a point to get up early in the morning and start my day just like usual. Not that I have much of a choice with the kids anyway. I got up and took William to school. Of course with school being at church, I stopped and gave a shout out to the big guy. After that I headed over to Office Depot. I needed to print out more copies of my resume but my printer at home isn't working and my mom's didn't print out either. I have 3 printers in the house and none of them work. I think the ink just drys out for lack of use in those printers. I went to Office Depot not knowing how much they charged or if they could use the paper I brought in, but they were very helpful and I was able to use my own paper. I threw my resume on a floppy disc since I didn't really feel like using a CD for a 30 meg file. The girl plugs in my disc and starts doing her thing, but it freezes up and says that the disc is corrupt. Crap. Lucky for me they have internet connection on that computer and I pull it up on line since I had emailed it to myself not to long ago. For a nice laser copy of my resume it was only 9 cents which isn't too bad. Color would have been 49 cents apiece, but the only color that I had on my resume was my email address. So I leave there and head next store to Kohl's. I tried on my suit last night and it was a little big, but I couldn't find a black belt in the house. So I run in the store and start looking around at the selection of belts. I try on a couple of different sizes, but one looks to small and the other looks to big. I finally found a size in the middle that I think will work out pretty well. After checking out I notice that there is a Red Cross RV in the parking lot and a lady inside asks me if I want to donate blood. I have been wanting to do that for a while, but for one reason or another I have never done it. So I sign up and head out to the RV. You can tell by the inside that this RV has been through alot. It wasn't dirty or anything, but I will say it looked "well used". So I finally get to meet with a person to fill out the paperwork and questionnaires to get started. After that I laid down on a little couch and went through the process of giving blood. Overall it wasn't too bad. I didn't have a chance to grab breakfast before leaving so they had me drink a coke while I was giving blood to keep my blood sugar up. I felt a little weird after giving blood, but I couldn't tell if it was because I gave blood or if it was because I am not used to drinking caffeine anymore since I stopped drinking it 8 years ago. After giving blood I was sent to the front of the bus and given a couple of cookies and watched a mechanic working on the engine of the RV. (like I said this thing has been well used). I wasn't sure if I had to sit there for a specific amount of time, but finally they said, "oh you could have left when you wanted". Maybe next time I will go to the plasma center and make a little $$$. So I get home and grab some breakfast, then head over to pick up William from school. After getting home I got online to start the process for unemployment. I still need to get more details on what exactly I need to do and that kind of stuff. Saturday I got a call for a second interview for a job, which she later called back and set up for this afternoon. She told me to block out at least 5 hours for the interview... 5 hours????? I would be meeting with 3 or 4 different people in the same afternoon. She scheduled every person at least an hour and a half. I couldn't possibly fathom trying to interview someone for that long, but hey whatever they want to do. I made it to the appointment early. The first guy I talked to had a script of questions and he took the full time together asking me his scripted questions and drilling me on some other stuff. The second guy just kind of skimmed over the scripted questions, but we spent most of the time just talking. After about 30 minutes he says that he can't think of anything else and decides to end it early, which is fine, but kind of messes up the schedule for the last guy. They were able to call him in a little early so I spent most of that time talking with some of the staff until he showed up. The third guy didn't have his script at all and we just talked for 15 minutes or so. About 3 and a half hours total, I was basically done for my interview. I knew there was another person who might want to talk to me, but I wasn't about to hang out without a specific appointment. So I headed home stopping by the Disney store to talk to Jen. I grabbed some Mikky D's on the way home for the boys. I will hear about the job the first of next week. Until then I am going to keep looking on the internet and sending out resumes. Overall I think I did well on the interviews. The job sounds exciting and overwhelming at the same time, but I think I can probably handle it.

That's all folks....

2008-09-15T13:02:00.003-05:00

Well I almost made it through Monday. Now I can say that monday's truely suck. It's called a layoff so there are some benefits and paid for my unused vacation days and such. It's weird sitting here in empty surroundings with all my pictures and stuff off of the walls. Just have to pack up my radio when I leave and that's all. I appreciate my boss giving me the heads up a couple weeks ago and I really hope that he can save the business. If this job interview this week works out then it will truely be a blessing. Until then I am going to keep on searching and see how this unemployement thing works. I have been paying into it for 25 years, so now it's time to take a little back. Hopefully it's enough to get the family by for a little while. I need to see what projects that I can get done around the house that don't cost anything (I am sure there are a ton of them). Nothing else maybe I can work on the basement project and get that at least to a point that it's ready to go for paint and drywall when I get some money rolling in later. My blog entries will probably start to sound like MDH's.. just without the decoder ring....

Am I just that lucky

2008-09-15T08:37:00.002-05:00

I have applied for a few jobs since I got the heads up from my boss few weeks ago. I did a phone interview for a postion last week. Then I got a call for a second interview on Saturday for this week some time. I think it's a job that I would really enjoy, and hopefully it will work out since it's the only one that I have going on so far.

Say a little prayer for me (if you do that sort of thing). I will tell you more about the job later.

Check Check Check

2008-09-15T07:26:00.002-05:00

A very good weekend to put a couple of check marks on the honey-do list. I made it through Friday and still had a job at the end of the day.. whew. I went to bed kinda late. Around 3:00am William comes walking in the room so I had to trudge him back to bed. Then at 5:00am he came back with his blanket, but I noticed some thunder, Lightning, and rain outside so I figured that he was just scared so I just let him get in bed with me (Jen crashed on the couch downstairs again). Minutes later Jen comes up to bed which puts William nuzzled up next to me. I was already a little warm, but William's body heat doesn't help. At this point there is a loud clap of thunder and Andrew starts crying. So I go into his room for two reasons. One, to calm him down, and two, to give me a place to sleep. After calming Andrew down and trying to settle in I hear an ear piercing noise. What the heck is that? That sounds like the alarm for the battery backup for the sump pump. We have power in the house which only means one thing. The back-up sump is running which means the primary pump is either not working or being overwhelmed by water. It is raining extremely hard, which is how the basement flooded the last time. So I run down to the basement to see both of the pumps running full speed, but they are keeping up with the water coming in the sump and keeping it from over flowing. whewwww. I was going to try and use a bucket to help drain some of the water, but with the install of the back-up sump, I can't get a bucket in there. Oh well at least it's keeping up. I then hear Andrew screaming upstairs. I get him back into bed. I am standing in the basement watching the pumps run. Of course I think "If the sump starts to flood there isn't anything I can really do about it", and with two pumps running it shouldn't. Anyway so I am standing there and finally the pumps start to get ahead of the water to the point where the back-up stops running and the primary can handle it. I am so glad I got that installed. So I trudge upstairs wide awake. I was close to blogging about the experience while I was awake, but I was just too tired. I thought about going back to bed, but William is there and it was real comfy in the chair downstairs, so I stayed there and grabbed a little nap until Andrew woke up.

Saturday: I headed out to get a haircut in the morning (got to look good for interviews). After I got my hair cut I decided to run down to redi-med. A couple of months ago I stepped on a little rock with ball of my foot and it has hurt on and off since then. I figure I better get it looked at while I still had insurance. I walk in the door to a packed waiting room and a line to the counter. Yeah, I am not that bad, I will come back later. I head over to the in-laws to look at there closets. Jen wants shelves in the front room and she likes the way the in-laws looks. So I get an idea of the design and head over to Menards to look at parts and prices. I get home to lunch and stuff. Then I clear out the front room of all the toys. Another job for the front room is to put a second coat of paint on the walls. I was able to get this room painted before Easter, but wasn't able to get the second coat done before we had everyone over. Actually I thought the one coat would do the trick, but it looks better with the second coat. I spent the next 3 hours working on the room and trying to keep the boys out. I finally let them into the room with me with the restriction of staying in the CENTER of the room and away from the walls. They did pretty good, but started drifting toward the walls after a while. I was able to finish the room pretty fast. So dinner and the usual stuff at night. After puting the kids to bed I headed back to redi-med to a nearly empty waiting room. While the nurse was writing down my information I was describing the pain in my foot and showed her where it hurt. She says "oh right there on that wart?" Huh, what, a wart? I didn't have wart there before. So finally the doctor comes in the room and says "Hi I am Shannon" What, no I am Dr. so and so? That's usually what they say. I find out later that her last name was Quinn. I guess she had enough of the Dr. Quinn medicine woman jokes for the day. She looks at my foot and says, yep it's a wart. I find out that it is a virus and is contagious whereupon I remember that we just got done getting rid of a wart on William's foot so I probably got it from him (or gave it to him). As she is using the liquid nitrogen I am thinking that I could have been pain free months ago, oh well. After redi-med I stop by Ritters for some ice cream and one last hurrah since they are closing for good at the end of the month. Our usual splurge is Zesto's since Ritters is a little too far to keep the ice cream from melting. After I got home we pulled out the laptop and got caught up on "Bonz" which took us after midnight.

Sunday: Got up early of course and headed to church. After church we went over to the in-laws for lunch. They just got back from a road trip to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore and some other stuff out there. It sounds like they did quite a bit of stuff when they were out there. Jen tells a story of a road trip when she was younger when the family stopped by Mount Rushmore, but the mountain was fogged in so they never "saw" the mountain. So after eating and contemplating a nap on the couch I got up and headed out. I went over to Menards to grab supplies for the shelving project. I decided to make the shelves adjustable so I found the lumber with the little holes for the pegs. I actually found the sides for the shelves in a bargain bin. They had some bad spots, but I was going to cut them anyway. I actually have someone helping me, which is a bit of a shock. I ask how much they are and he doesn't know but takes me up to the guy who does. So he does some stuff with the computer and gives me a piece of paper that says they are $15 a piece. They are usually $19. I tick the guy off a little and ask if he can do a little better than that, but he won't. The last thing I need is the pegs to put in the holes that will hold the shelves. The guy who was helping me earlier asked to help again. I tell him I need the pegs for the shelves. He says, "oh the way you connect the panel to the wall?" I said no I need the pegs that hold the shelves. He says, "oh you mean kind of like an L-bracket". I said no it's nothing like that. After a couple more exchanges like this I take him over to my cart and show him the sides with the holes in it, and say "see these holes? I need the pegs that go in here and hold the shelves!!!" He says "oh, the pegs". Yes Einstein the pegs. So he takes me over to the wire shelves. no no no you idiot these are not wire shelves they are wood!!!! So finally he asks a co worker who takes me right over to the exact area I was heading and shows me a full display of PEGS!!! So I load up my lumber in a downpour (Remnants of Hurricane Ike)and head for home. I stop by mom's house to grab my brother's circular saw (by the way Dan, can I borrow your circular saw??) So I tear all of the crap out of the closet and start making a plan of attack. I will save you boring details (yeah I know it's probably too late) but the install went pretty good for being a custom install job (everything pretty level). I set up an area in the garage for cutting wood that works out pretty good. Usually this kind of thing I would ask my father in law for help, but wanted to see if I could do it myself, and it worked out pretty well if I do say so myself. I finish after about 3 hours of measuring, cutting, walking back and forth to the garage, I head back to the in-laws to pick up the family. Of course I see the gas station at the corner has a deal on their mulch. When I loose my job I will have time to work on more projects, but no money to do it. Ironic isn't it. So bring the family home and up to bed. Jen and I just collapse in the family room. I tried to watch the football game, but didn't make it that long.

Another busy weekend, but at least I got a few projects done.

I get to join the crowd

2008-09-10T09:13:00.002-05:00

Great. I get to join Carrie Q. and MDH in looking for a job. My boss just came by and gave me a heads up that I might want to start looking around. Nothing to do with me, just something with the company that will require a budget cut for not only me but a couple other people.

So, keep me in the loop if you hear of anything.....

Major moves.... stalls...

2008-09-09T09:34:00.003-05:00

Every day I drive I-469 to work. I could take I-69 to work, but with the constuction on the road widening and the amount of traffic at that time of the morning I chose to go the other way. It just takes one idiot to have and accident on 69 (which happens alot) to back everything up for hours. Both ways are just about the same distance. At the begining of the spring they started to do construction on 469. Basicly they would block one lane of the hightway for about 4 miles (for two weeks at a time) to tear up sections of the concrete road to pour new concrete. There were some sections that I could see the problem with cracks, but there were quite a few that I just didn't see it. Yeah I am going over the road at 65 miles an hour so you can't see every crack. So all spring and summer I was dealing with this lane closed, that lane closed, this section, now that section. Luckily 469 is not that busy, so there are few delays, but you do have to slow down to 45 in construction zones. They would block off a lane for two weeks (and do nothing) and then work on it for two weeks, and then give it two weeks to dry the concrete.Well finally they finished all of the 20 miles that I drive every day, so I was getting ready to go back to my steady 65 miles an hour drive to work. But no, they are now going back over the same sections of roads that they just did and do it all over again. I have watched as they jackhammered up new concrete to repour it. Either they didn't do a good job the first time, or they just don't have anywhere else to go, but more money to spend.

I think they just need a place to store all of the orange barrels for a while longer.

ahhh... football is back

2008-09-09T09:22:00.002-05:00

Yeah I know it signals the end of summer and the begining of colder days ahead, but I feel good that football has started. Not just pro footbal, but even college football. I plopped in front of the TV on Sunday and just watched football all day long. Heck, I was even watching some games where I didn't even care for either team. I am not really a sports watching guy, but I like football.

Sunday I didn't think anything could beat the hype of Brett Favre's return to football with the Jets. Man, that got real old with the commentators beating that story to death... until....the golden boy, Tom Brady got hurt. Dear God, you would have thought the president was shot for as much media attention that this story got. Not only all over the TV, but even the internet and radio. Yeah he got a boo boo on his knee and is out for the season, but so did a bunch of other players and no one cares. Just gives him more time to knock up some other chick.

Before we know it the season will be over, but I am going to enjoy it while I can.

Night Golf IV

2008-09-08T07:46:00.002-05:00

Friday night was the annual Kiwaniis night golf tournament. Like every year I invite everyone since I know how fun it is, and like every year I struggle to put together a foursome. This year was no different where the maybe's turned into can't make it's, so it just left me and my brother. So we show up for the event with a chance of a couple of other people showing up that I invited. We settled down with dinner and a beer. This year they had a choice of bratwurst or a BBQ pulled pork sandwich. The brat was boiled and just alright, but the pork was very good. They also had potatoes and green beans as sides. After eating we were talking to the organizer of the event and he said that the attendance was down for the year, I think due to it being after labor day and on a Friday night (high school football night). Next year they have already said that they were going to move it back to August. It's a shame since this is such a good event and I am sure I will try like every year to get as many people to play as possible. I am not real sure how they market this event, but I don't think it's enough. So with some last minute instruction we head out to the course.

Dan and I start our trek out to the 12th tee which is just about as far away from the club house as you can get. That was a good stretch of the legs to get warmed up. Since it was just Dan and I playing they gave us two extra balls so we could each play two. This was nice, but at the same time a pain to keep track of both balls and chase them down on every shot. Dan's first drive with the glowing balls was pretty good (his second was even better). Not bad for only playing once this year when he cleaned my clock. I actually got off a pretty good drive as well. Playing at night is alot of playing the "feel" of the ball and not as much visual. Of course at night you have to throw out the depth perception and just hope that you have the right club. We played the 9 holes at a pretty brisk pace. We didn't need to since there wasn't anyone behind us, but we just did. I think I had the most bad shots of the two of us. There was a couple times that even with two shots I couldn't hit it 10 yards, but I started to hit my drives really well at the end. Again the beer was cold and close so we never had to worry about running out. What a perfect night to play golf. I think in the lower to mid 60's with a slight breeze blowing which was just warm enough not to need a jacket. It was an overcast night which reflected the city lights so it wasn't too dark out on the course, which is good since the sliver of moon wouldn't have given us much light to play with. Last year it was clear, but it was a low, full moon providing plenty of night light. We ended up at a legitimate 1 over score which I thought was pretty good. The guy who came in first was the guy I played with last year and I remember how he keeps score in his head so I wonder about that. We tied for second with a foursome of girls who I question there score as well since we saw them tee-off, but hey it's for fun and charity. We still ended up winning prizes. I got a gift certificate to Starbucks for Jenny to use and Dan got a Bobicks gift certificate and just gave it to me since he is hitting the road again. Once again I had a blast and I will be playing again next year. Hopefully they will put it on a day where my friends will be available next year. Home and to bed by 1:30am where Andrew wakes up at 6:30am... yeah I got a nap in the afternoon.

Labor Day weekend

2008-09-02T09:33:00.007-05:00

Another good and busy weekend around the household. My dad and step mom came up for the weekend. I offered to let them stay at our house, but with my dad's allergy to the cat and not wanting to get up at 7:00am with the kids, they decided to stay at a hotel. They made it up on Friday afternoon and came over Friday night with my bother. Of course they came loaded with food and toys. They gave the boys at least two bags full of toys including a couple of street rods, a couple of huge dump trucks, and some plastic power tools. My children, with the patients of gnats, can't wait for me to get them out of the box. My step-mom Betty is a fantastic cook and brought a bunch of stuff up to snack on including queso, banana bread, and cookies. She takes tortilla shells, cuts them up, and pan fries the pieces to make her own chips that are delicious. I would attempt to do that myself, but I am not sure I would want to deal with all the grease and stuff, but it might be worth it. After visiting for a while we broke out the Wii. My dad didn't understand what the big deal was with the game so I was trying to show him. I showed him the Leggos Indiana Jones game, but he wasn't too impressed, but when I got out the Wii Sports I think he finally got it. I think he really enjoyed the golf, tennis, and bowling. My dad, brother, and I were bowling at just about the same level, when my brother started throwing strikes right after another and beat us both. After playing for a while we decided to call it a night. It was getting late, and we were making too much noise downstairs, keeping the boys awake. Reminded me of the times when my dad and the neighbor would play ping pong in the garage at night and Dan and I would sit by the door learning new vocabulary words (not the good kind either).

Saturday: Company came over in the morning and my dad,brother and I took off and headed up to the ACD auction. I originally thought about taking the boys with me since they love cars, but later I was grateful that I didn't since it was pretty hot and we did alot of walking around. There is nothing like paying $20 to walk around and look at cars. Yeah being a typical guy I was drooling over alot of them, but not as much as my Dad :). We walked, we gawked, we shopped and told stories about how we knew a guy who owned one just like that one, or my dad owned one. It was pretty hot walking around the parking lot. Finally we found some seats in the auction area and just watched them auction off cars. I was doing my best to keep my hands down since I really didn't feel like bidding on a car by accident. There was one idiot who was waving at his friend and they thought he was bidding. He almost bought a $40,000 car. It is fun to sit there and try and guess how much a car will go for. That's what Bob Chase and I used to do when we were there with the radio station. I was close on a couple but waaaay off on others. Some of the cars they would spend quite a bit of time of trying to get bids and some they would spend little to no time at all. Reminds me of when I took mom's Prowler on the auction block. I think we were on stage and off in a few minutes, ticked me off. I think they would spend more times on cars there were there from their buddies or people they knew. I had a chance to say something to Dean Kruse on the way out of there, but didn't. Nothing like spending a couple of hundred dollars to run a car onto a stage for 3 minutes. The other part that ticked me off on that day is that the car was scheduled to be on stage at a certain time in the afternoon, but ended up being HOURS late when most of the crowd had left. Yeah I will never auction off another car up there. Anyway..... After a couple of hours we headed home. My brother took off to get ready for his "gig" playing with his band at the American Legion and my dad and step-mom headed back to the hotel to freshen up and go out to dinner. Jen had to work, so I was playing with the boys until she got home. My dad and step-mom were going to meet up with my mom for dinner before Dan's gig, but found out that the Legion didn't serve food on the weekends. My dad ended up heading over to Triangle park and my mom and her friends ended up having a pizza delivered to the Legion. I showed up around 8:30 to find out that the band hadn't started playing yet. I set up my mom's camera to record the band and just let it roll. My brother has been playing in bands for most of his life, through many genres of music, and with moderated success. Most of his bands haven't been too main-stream usually leaning to something alternative or original (see barnyard animals post post HERE). Most of his bands usually have very talented musicians, but not the greatest singer. The latest band "Big Caddy Daddy" is the best one that he has been in yet. Great musicians and singers, a set list that you can dance to, and a fun attitude. There was a pretty good crowd at the Legion and everyone danced most of the night.

I hung out recording their show until a little after 11:00. In between sets I had a chance to talk to Dan and he showed me his custom "fuzzy" drumset. He put some fake fur on his set and had a couple skulls topping his cymbals to name a few things. I took off for home not long after that.

Sunday: After church and a trip to the store, we all met up again and I took my dad, step-mom, and brother up to the lake for the annual Clymer family fish fry. This is always a good time with good food. Unfortunately my in-laws lost their shade tree to rot so we spent most of the time under the canopy or looking for shade since the sun was freakin' hot. So we sat around, visited, ate, and looked for a place for a nap. After a while my dad and brother took off for home and we took the boys down to the lake for a swim. William is getting alot more comfortable around the water and isn't too afraid about getting in some deeper water if he is on a float. He actually fell off a float and went underwater for a nose-full once, but it didn't scare him out of the water. We really need to get him some swimming lessons. After that and some more food (urp) we packed up and headed for home.

Monday: Jen made a run for the new Dunkin' Doughnuts to grab a dozen for breakfast. They are good, but I am not sure they are worth the drive. The doughnuts are Meijer are still very tasty. We decided to have a cookout at our house and invited everyone over. My bother wanted to make steak Fajitas and grill some corn so they stopped out in Amish country in the morning to grab some stuff. Everyone made it over to the house a little after noon. I thought we were trying to eat between 2 and 3 but Dan thought we were looking at between 4 or 5 so I ended up putting out some stuff to snack on while we were visiting. I love my brother, but when he tries to cook something, it usually doesn't turn out that well for one unforeseen problem or another. Of course I was trying to help, and Betty was trying to help, so we might have had a few too many Chiefs in the kitchen. I just drifted out of the way after a while and just stayed on stand-by in case I was needed. Stuff happened all day to make it one to remember for myself at least. Mom spilled her full pop on Jen. The sirloin that Dan got had huge bones in it like a T-bone (usually sirloin is boneless). Then Dan brought in the cooked steak to cut it up and put it in with the sauteed onions and peppers. Betty asks if that is going into this and Dan says "yes". Well Dan thinks she is asking about putting the steak in with the onions, but she is asking about putting the cooking summer squash in with the onions, which she ends up doing. oops. they end up picking out the summer squash and putting in the steak. Bottom line is that the fajitas were simply delicious, great flavor, tender meat, with a hint of brown sugar (from the squash). It was seriously the best fajitas I have ever had. We ended up eating out on the back deck on a fantastic evening. I was worried that it would be too hot, but in the shade with a bit of a breeze was perfect. So some more visiting and the company decided to head back to the hotel. My dad brought a cooler to stock up on the Win Schulers cheese since he can't get it down in Alabama. After they left we did a quick clean up, which wasn't much thanks to Betty. Jen and I were sitting in the front room watching TV and thinking about putting the boys to bed, but not physically able to. I notice that Andrew is going to the fridge quite alot to get a glass of water, which usually he doesn't do. After the third glass I told him that was enough. Then I hear the water running in the bathroom. I go to see what they are up to when I see that the back of their new dump trucks are full of water and the carpet is soaked. I yell at the boys (yeah I was cranky) and tell them to get upstairs and to bed. We soak up the water with towels and I get out the steam cleaner to pull water out as well. After cleaning up I apologize to the boys for yelling at them and we put them to bed. I finally drag my butt up to bed around 11:00.

It was a long but a very good weekend...

kind of a wierd day off

2008-08-28T10:09:00.002-05:00

I took yesterday off to take Andrew down to Indy for a follow up for his eyes. We were not leaving until 10:30, so I figured that I had a couple hours to get something else done in the morning. My dad is coming up for the weekend so I want to get the house cleaned up and possibly some yard work done. I decided that the morning would be the time to try and dump the big screen TV since the recycling center is only open Monday through Friday from 8 to 4 (or bankers hours). I got everything set up with borrowing my in-laws truck and arranging for my brother to help load and unload the truck. I get up, grab a shower and run over to pick up the truck. I waited for my bother to show up to load the TV, but the agreed upon time has passed and a call to the house goes unanswered. I figured he is on his way or I told him the wrong day. So anyway after a bit of grunting and groaning I load the TV into the back of the truck myself. Even though it's pretty big it wasn't too awkward to tip into the truck. I didn't have to really worry about scratching or breaking it since it was broken anyway. So I am on my way to the recycle center with the TV, a VCR and two printers and call my brother to leave him a message, and he picks up. The conversation goes like this:

Me: "hey Dan"
Dan: "hey Dave, what's up?.... (pause)... oh Crap...I will be there in 5 minutes"

I tell him that I got it loaded and I was on my way. I end up stopping by his house to pick him up since he has a keyboard that he wants to recycle too. We find the place and pull into the fenced-in area. There are 4 or 5 guys helping to unload trucks. The guy comes up and sees the TV and comments that he didn't think they took TV's that large. Crap. I knew there would be something like this even though the website clearly states TV's of ANY size. But after a conversation with his boss he tells me they do... whew. So dump all that stuff off, pay my $5, and head back for home. We are trying to leave for Indy by 10:30 to give us a chance to eat lunch before Andrew's appointment, but we weren't pulling out of the garage until 11:00. The trip down was pretty uneventful. Andrew's eyes are still doing pretty good with little to no change from the last time we took a 4 hour car ride for a 15 min appointment. The doctor doesn't want to chance anything and wants to see us in 6 months for another 4 hour drive for a 15 min appointment. Unfortunately we didn't get down to Indy early enough to eat lunch before his appointment so we had to go to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch after the appointment (tragic I know). So another $60 lunch with bring home cheesecake for dessert. We get back and head to grandma's to pick up William and visit with my mom for a while. After a while we head home so I can tear apart the family room of all the furniture and steam clean the carpet. As we are pulling up to the house I forgot that I still had the in-laws truck and needed to return it. Nuts. So my quick trip to return the truck turned into an hour chore since my in-laws had company and I ended up talking with them for a while. In my conversation with the company I get some information that sheds a dark light on a former boss (mentor) of mine that shocks me quite a bit. I might tell the story later. So I finally get home and start pulling furniture out of the room and into the kitchen. I am trying to get the carpet cleaned as quick as possible since there is no way that the boys will go to bed with me running the sweeper and steam cleaner. I am fishing up around 9:30 so the boys can fall asleep. As I sit on the couch (in the kitchen) I eat my cheesecake and try to think of what else I want to try and get done before my dad's visit. Actually I am trying to think of what I have enough time to get done. I am falling asleep in the kitchen around 11:00 and head to bed.

Kindergarten

2008-08-25T09:13:00.005-05:00

William started kindergarten last week. Looking back at these photos and video I should have been there. So far he really likes going to school and hopefully he will do well. Andrew really wanted to go with him into class, so that just added to Jen's fun for the morning.

Seeing this video it takes me back to an 8mm tape of my first day of school. The boys are growing up real fast. I guess I will just buckle up and get ready for take-off.

TV shopping

2008-08-21T13:55:00.003-05:00

I was doing a little TV shopping this afternoon while I was out and about. I have heard that lcd is better than plasma, but it's not like I am going to be running a satellite or cable through this thing. The main complaint that I have heard is the glare off the screen, but I am going to do some more research into this. I stopped at best buy and circuit city just to get an idea of how big the TV's are and to get an idea of pricing. I was leaning toward circuit city since they had 36 month no interest, but I found out today that best buy offers the same thing now. The guy at best buy also showed me some projection TV's that are similar to a flat panel, but you get alot bigger screen size for a comparable price. We just need to determine a couple of things before making a purchase. One is the size that we need for the room. I am not sure it is feesable to replace the big screen with a similar size, but now that I have had the 27 inch TV in the front room I am getting used to it. The other is financial. Need to look at what the budget can handle for the next 3 years. I just set up payments for Christopher's birth so that is also a factor. (Christopher will be ours in 35 more payments !!!) And with the kids going to private school and so on and so on.....

In case you were wondering what I found out today.. Here is a quick overview

inches	type	price	Tax	place	mo/payment
42	plasma	749	52.43	bb	22.26
42	lcd	799	55.93	bb	23.75
42	lcd	899	62.93	bb	26.72
50	plasma	1099	76.93	cc	32.66
47	lcd	1199	83.93	bb	35.64
50	plasma	1251	87.57	cc	37.18
50	plasma	1299	90.93	bb	38.61
50	project	1299	90.93	cc	38.61
46	lcd	1399	97.93	cc	41.58
46	lcd	1499	104.93	cc	44.55
47	lcd	1529	107.03	cc	45.45
60	project	1599	111.93	cc	47.53
65	project	1699	118.93	cc	50.50
65	project	1749	122.43	bb	51.98

I would appreciate any opinions on the whole lcd/plasma controversy. Or I probably should just ask MR since he is the owner of two new TV's.

The good news is that I found out that I can take the old TV to a recycling center and get rid of it for $5, but the bad news is that I have to get the inlaws truck, load it up, and drag it over there.

The boys are growning up

2008-08-20T09:44:00.002-05:00

This is Christopher's 6 month picture (taken at 7 months). He can't really sit up like that on his own quite yet. He is getting alot better, but still prefers rolling all over floor. This picture was one of those times when Jen held him until the last possible moment, moved her hands, and snapped the picture. The funny part is that Jen sent me the link to the website that had thumbnails of all of the pictures on that day. When I tried to right click on the pictures to save it on my PC the site wouldn't let me. So, I just turned to my Mac, pulled up the pictures, and drug it to my desktop. he he he heeeeeeee.

Today is William's first day in Kindergarten at a new school. He is excited about it which makes me feel pretty good, but there is always a little worry. I think there always will be. I worry that the other children might look at him a little different due to his speech delay, but I think his friendly personality will make up for alot of that, but you never know how other kids will act. I will post pictures tomorrow.

2008-08-18T09:43:00.006-05:00

So I was looking through the newspaper on Friday and saw that they were having an open house in New Haven for the Fort Wayne railroad historical society. It was a chance to see some old steam locomotives and take a ride on an old train. Like many boys, if there is any activity with cars, trains, or planes they are into it. I recalled a memory of my dad taking myself and my brother out to New Haven at least 25 years ago to see an old steam locomotive. I remember that my dad knew one of the guys working on restoring the engine or something like that. My brother actually remembered the guys name, but I forgot it already. Anyway I remember climbing into the cab of this old engine while it was working and it was quite impressive. I wasn't sure if this was the same locomotive that I saw over 25 years ago, but the one thing I did remember that to get the whistle to work, you had to pull a lever on the far right side of the cab, and sure enough when the boys and I climbed into the cab, there was that lever. I forgot how huge this train was. It had to be at least 20 feet high. Unfortunately it wasn't working, but they did have a restored 100 year old caboose that we got a chance to walk through and down memory lane. They were offering rides in one of those old cabooses so I took the boys on it for a ride. The caboose was pulled by a 1950's diesel locomotive that was also pretty impressive. All around this warehouse where they were working on the trains they had other project cars all over the area. Most of them were no where near completion or even started, but as I understand that the group that works on the trains are all volunteers and they only do a few events like this to get donations.

At the midway point of our ride we pulled up next to a fairgrounds with a bunch of RV's. I noticed the sound and look of old steam powered tractors. I asked the conductor of the caboose if that was the Maumee Valley steam and thresher show. Back in the days of working for WOWO I had been to this event a bunch of times and always found it very interesting. Along with the old steam tractors they also had a pretty impressive flea market. Also part of this complex was a large field where they flew remote controlled airplanes. After getting off the ride we headed over to that other show. As I pulled up I noticed people leaving and people packing up the flea market. We were too late to see the flea market, but there were still a couple of the old steam tractors around. I took the boys over to the remote controlled airplane area and they really enjoyed watching the people fly their planes. I am sure when they get a bit older we will buy an airplane. We got back to mom's house and I put together their planes that they got a cracker barrel on vacation and they had fun playing with those. The wood that these planes are made of is that flimsy, thin as paper, wood. So I don't plan on those lasting that long around the house. Minutes into putting them together I was already in repair mode with the scotch tape trying to put planes back together again.

More info on the steam locomotive can be found at: www.765.0rg

blogging and surfing

2008-08-16T21:54:00.002-05:00

Saturday night at 11:00pm and I should be in bed, but I chose to grab the laptop, light the tiki's, and surf the net out on the deck. I can't believe that I haven't done this yet this summer and it's the middle of August already. Seems like most weekends there is one reason or another that kept me from coming outside. Usually it's the fact that after the boys are in bed and I watch a little TV that I fall asleep in the chair. The weather has been fantastic since we got back from Rochester so now I am going to try my best to enjoy every minute of it. I actually got some landscaping done in the front yard this afternoon that was waaayyyy overdue. When I watch the kids on the weekend, when Jen is at work, I usually try not to take Christopher outside since I can't really watch him that well, but now he is able to hold his head up and be a little more independent. I put him in the exersaucer (and in the shade) and got quite a bit done outside. The other boys tried to help me as well, but spent most of the time playing in and around the van. Chris lasted a couple hours with me until getting fussy and headed inside for his afternoon nap.

As I was working this afternoon I thought to myself that I hadn't been surfing on the deck this year, so here I am. It's a bit chilly tonight (around 63) but it is very clear with a full moon rising. One of the tiki's has bit the dust (out of fluid), and the cicada's are out in force tonight. There is a solice in these moments that I really enjoy, but don't get often enough. I just need to turn off the TV a little more often and just do something else. It was a bit annoying when we lost the big screen in the front room for most of this week, but it was also kind of nice just turning on the radio and not watching the "boob tube". When I was doing a TV swap with some other ones on Thursday night I thought about not putting a TV in the front room. But now I am just talking crazy. Nope, just going to take a little discipline on my part to try and get the most out of the rest of summer. William starts Kindergarten next week so I know that fall can't be too far away. Tomorrow it's church and Triangle Park for lunch celebrating my Uncle Dave's birthday. After that Jen goes to work and I am either going to bring the boys home and get some more stuff done or take them out to see a steam locomotive in New Haven.

ahhhhh.. beautiful night....going to be good sleeping...

R.I.P

2008-08-15T15:21:00.002-05:00

For the past year I have been writing about the TV going out. Every time I blog about it I usually go home and it comes back to life. This time I think it's definitely gone. Ever since we got back from vacation we have been trying to get it to work by unplugging it, letting it set, and then powering it up again, as the Philips people recommended. We decided to call in a TV repair man. I didn't think these people still existed. Best Try wanted to charge us close to $100 to come and look at it, but the names that we got from the Philips company would only charge us $55 for a service call so we decided to do that. Jen and I had talked about how much we would be willing to spend to save the old TV but never came up with an actual number. She called me yesterday after the guy looked at the TV and said that it would be around $300 to fix it. I figure $800 for a new 42 inch TV when I can have it repaired for $300 is something that is doable, so I tell her to go ahead and have it fixed. But then he tests a few more things and says that there is one more thing that needs replacing as well, that he would have to order, and that would take the repair bill close to $600. Crap. That's a number I can't deal with when I can have a brand new flat screen plasma for $800ish. I tell her to declare the patient dead. Now the search for a new TV and how the heck do I get rid of a 55inch projection big screen. I think I might have to make a trip to the dump. I put my 27 inch TV in the front room last night and it's like watching TV from 40 feet away.

Stay tuned for the search

Our trip to the Q collective

2008-08-12T20:36:00.014-05:00

***** You might want to get a bag of popcorn and a beer... it's going to be along entry *****

I knew that the trip to Rochester was coming for weeks, but it seemed to just pop up in my mind last weekend before going into full planning mode. Overall I say that we did a pretty good job (especially Jen) in getting everything together and making sure we had everything we needed. Someone to take care of the cat.. check (I guess we have too :)) Of course the mind wandered with any possible thing that we might need for the kids. The last trip that we actually took was to geekfest two years ago and we only had two kids. It's always the little stuff that you forget. I just kept reminding myself that it's not like we are going overseas, it's just Rochester, and they have stores there too. Little did I know they had a heaven-like (according to Carrie) store called Weigmans or something like that. The other factor is how the boys would do being stuck in a car for at least 8 hours. All I can say is thank God (and my dad) that we had a DVD player. So let the journey begin.....

Wednesday - I would have liked to be on the road by 9:00am but Jen was thinking more like 10:00 so we were shooting for something in between. Of course we were up by 7:00am and starting putting the last stuff together and getting ourself ready. I was waiting until the last possible moment to load the van since when I start that and the boys have their shoes on, it is time to GO for the boys. So I get the van loaded, snacks, DVD player, cooler with drinks and so on. We are pulling out of the garage a little after 10:00 (not too bad). Jen road in the back with the boys so she could be closer in case they needed anything or if Christopher fussed. I wanted to take it easy on the drive over for the boys sake which mean stopping for meals and frequent potty breaks. I have a feeling that when they get older I will be like my dad (and many other dads) and just drive drive drive until we get there. We little after the Ohio Line it gets to be around noonish so I start asking the boys how they are doing. They are fine gazing at the DVD player and Christopher seems to be pretty good too. I remember from the last vacation to Sandusky that the first "travel plaza" in Ohio is a pretty bad hole in the wall, but all of them after that are very nice, so I opt to drive further toward Toledo. The one thing that I was trying to avoid on the trip was pulling off the toll road. Yeah I know the gas is a bit cheaper and you have a better selection of restaurants, but to me it's a hassle. So we stop neat Toledo and have lunch at Burger King at a travel plaza. Now I don't usually eat at Burger King so I am not familiar with their menu, or should I say how the menu will agree with my stomach. I didn't want to get down the road a few miles and have to pull off for internal reasons. Good new is that the Jr. Wopper did pretty good with my stomach, the bad news is that the onions stayed with me until dinner (burp).The drive through Ohio was pretty uneventful. Lucky for us Carrie called to find out where we were and told us about the best way to get through Cleveland. Mapquest tells you to go through it to the South, but it's best to just stay on 90 all the way through. I guess John had emailed me that on Tuesday night but I didn't check my email before leaving. A few other people heading to Rochester had listened to Mapquest and had quite the adventure. Granted, 90 does some real funky stuff with off ramps and lane changes, but it is better. I noticed that John was right and the gas prices in Ohio are definitely better. I was going to hit the last off ramp in Ohio before going into Pennsylvania but missed it. I am thinking that this is the first time that I had been in Pennsylvania, but think that I might have went through a corner of it years ago on a road trip to North Carolina to visit my Aunt and cousins. We only travel in Pennsylvania for less than an hour before you get to New York state. I know for a fact that it was the first time that I had ever been in New York state. The scenery in Pennsylvania and New York is very nice. Lostsa trees and hills. I find it interesting that the first signs that you see in New York aren't welcome signs, but signs about what are state laws and doubled fines. A little after Buffalo we decided to stop for dinner. We got off the toll road and stopped at a Cracker Barrel. The boys did pretty good, but Andrew wanted to wander and was getting cranky. Let's just say this is the first of MANY times that you will hear that Andrew was cranky during our trip... I was trying to get to Rochester before it got dark since we had to look for the Q's house and it's easier to read house numbers and see colors of houses in the day time, but that didn't work out. I missed their house and had to turn around. Lucky for me their road isn't too busy so I could go real slow. So we pull in a little after 9:00pm. So 11 hours on the road, whew. I could have made it in 8 going straight through, but it worked out stopping when we did since I didn't feel that tired. So start the pandelerium of kids playing and running all over the house. I unloaded the van and we started to visit with the Q's. Finally we decided to put kids to bed. We put both the boys on a air mattress in the lower level of this tri-level house with a basement. Andrew started fighting me on staying on the air mattress with William saying "I don't like it" "I don't like it". He said that about 20 times that was quickly followed by his snoring seconds later. William was wide awake. I think he was excited about being there, so he kept flipping and flopping (of course shaking the mattress and waking up Andrew). I was sitting in the room with them until they fell asleep, but William wouldn't calm down. I just kept having flashbacks it the first trip that we took with William to Bowling Green 4 years ago where he didn't sleep the whole night. We spent all night trying to keep him from crying in the hotel room in fear of waking up the other guests. I even took him for a drive at 3:00am to try and knock him out to no luck. I think both William and I got about an hour sleep that night in Bowling Green. But after a while he finally conks out and I got upstairs to see it's around 11:00pm. After some more visiting with the Q's we finally called it a night around 1:00am or so. I am thinking that it will be nice to sleep-in in the morning since the boys will sleep in too, or at least I thought they would.

Thursday - 7:00am Andrew wakes up and thus wakes up William. I get up and entertain the boys so they don't wake up the whole house. We go upstairs and grab some breakfast. I grab an "awful big" muffin (as Mary calls them) and a glass of milk and that's enough breakfast for me. After a lazy morning with members of the crew waking up one at a time all morning. The Q's have a real nice TV that was just purchased not too long ago so I get to surf around the satellite. After a while we decide to pack up the crew and head to a museum of play that is in Rochester. This is my first experience in following Carrie "leadfoot" Q through the highways of New York in an effort not to loose her. We pull up to a huge building that is full of all kinds of stuff for kids to do and play with. As soon as you go into the front doors there is a carousel and an actual 1950's dinner that you can eat in. As soon as we get in the doors Andrew want to be carried which is not a good thing. This is the first clue that we probably should have done the museum on Friday to give the boys a chance to recover from the car ride, but William did just fine. Andrew on the other hand was a day full of crying whining flopping and meltdowns. This museum of play is a very cool place with TONS of stuff for kids to play with and on and over and under. It's a very hands-on experience in every part of this place. I was a bit unnerved trying to keep track of the boys in the seas of kids, but we only lost track of the boys a couple of times, but it's a pretty safe place to be lost in. Upstairs in the museum they have a collection of toys from different decades. That was pretty fun to see stuff that I played with as a kid behind glass in the display. There was quite a collection of old video game stuff that I got a picture of. I will post that later on. The kids weren't really interested in this part of the museum so we didn't stay too long upstairs. We decided to call it a day and hit the carousel on the way out the door. We looked at our watches and we were only there for 3 hours but it felt like we were there alot longer than that. (might have just seemed longer due to Andrew). We got home and grilled up some burgers and dogs to feed the crew. After that we broke out Mario Cart on the Wii. Yeah the kids (especially Keith) was beating the pants off of all of us. I couldn't quite get the hang of how much to steer the wheel so I found myself oversteering alot of the time which put me in a ditch usually. I don't know if I would have had a little more time to learn how to steer if it would have been more fun. So after a while of playing that we put the kids to bed. I stayed downstairs with the boys again to make sure they got to sleep alright. Andrew fought me a little bit, but went to sleep pretty quick. I was upstairs by 10:30 or so. After we were sure that all the kids were asleep we broke out Rockstar for the Wii. This is the version of guitar hero that has drums and bass and microphone. The Q's have two guitars so it worked out that everyone had their own instrument. I opted to play the drums being the most experienced in the group even though I haven't touched a drum stick in years (decades). The drum setup is alot like the tri-toms I played in high school so I thought it would be a breeze. Surprisingly I actually sucked at it. I thought I was keeping pretty good time and hitting the notes, but not according the the game. After a while I just picked up a guitar and was pretty good at the easy level. John is really good on the hard level, but has alot more experience than us. The Q's don't have a clock in their front room so it is easy to loose track of time so imagine our surprise when we saw that it was 2:00am. I felt bad for us, but even worse for John since he still had to work during our visit. But I didn't feel too sorry for him since he could go into work basically whenever he wanted.

Friday - Another 7:00am wake up call from the boys. Five hours of sleep it not enough. It seemed like I just got to bed when it was time to get up. So another lazy kind of morning and it's 11:00 before we know it. We decide to run over to one of their malls to just wander around stores, check things out, and try and wear the kids out. Andrew is in typical form, but was happy
when I was carrying him on my shoulders or giving him "penny penny" to throw into the fountain. After blowing a couple of hours there we head back to the house. Jen and Carrie decided to take the kids over to a playground that is close. I opt out of that idea and decided to try and take a nap while they were gone. I wasn't able to do that since Christoper was being a little fussy. After that it was a lazy kind of day with the kids running all over the place. I had a pretty good back ache in the morning, but with the help of some ibuprofen it finally let up when we hit the mall. The kids went down for the night pretty well with only a little bit of fuss. Either they were getting used to the air mattress or they were just that tired. We broke out the rockband game again (I think Jen is addicted) and started playing, but I was just too tired. Not sure if it was the lack of sleep or the medicine, but I fell asleep and trudged down to bed around midnight.

Saturday - Another 7:00am wake-up. The Q's had to take care of a couple of things in the morning, but we finally were ready to hit the road to Niagara around noon. We had to stop at the cellular store to let John get a new cell phone since he broke his (or it was broken for him) on his recent vacation, guys event, or whatever you want to call it. Before we left I find out that we only
need birth certificates to cross over to Canada and won't need passports until 2009. I have heard that the Canadian side of the falls is a little nicer, but it has been years since I had been there so I didn't know. Unfortunately we forgot the birth certificates so we were stuck on the American side. We headed to Niagara, not on the main highway, but on a kind of scenic back road. Actually it was a very nice 4 lane road that went right along Lake Ontario. This was a real nice change of pace to the crazy Highway 90 to buffalo and it gave us the opportunity to see the lake. Checking out the lake was another of the things that I wanted to try and do during vacation. We didn't get a chance to go the the shore, but I got a chance to see it which was fine. We passed a couple of state parks that were shore front that I am going to keep in mind for the next time. After a while the 4 lane highway became a 2 lane road that went through a lot of small towns and farmland with just about everyone selling firewood for some reason. It was nice to see that New York was kind of like Indiana in that aspect of small towns and agriculture. As we get to Buffalo this little road runs next to the main roads of Buffalo, but without the stoplights. The condition of this road is pretty poor and looks like they have been thinking about working on it for the past 10 years. When you can see 5 inches of dirt around barricades you know they have been there for a while. We stop at this nice little park near Niagara for a picnic lunch. At the far side of this park you can see a place downstream of Niagara that acts like a whirlpool. From the Canadian side you can take a gondola over the whirlpool.

After eating lunch and dealing with a very persistent bee that wanted John's Dr. Pepper we headed to Niagara which is pretty close to the park. We get to the main area of Niagara where the falls are and get stuck in a traffic Jam. It tells you to go straight to park, but you can't get through the intersection without getting stuck, and then the cross traffic gets blocked and so on and so on. Finally John just turns left and I do the same after the next light. We pull into this pretty sad looking parking garage that charges $10 for the day.We unload the kids and try out best to try and figure out how the heck to get out of the garage. Again this is a pretty sorry garage that doesn't have any instruction or directions on how to get to anything. We finally ended up carrying the kids and strollers down 4 flights of stairs since we couldn't find the freakin elevator. We get to the street where John asks me which way to go. I just point a direction since it seems like all places lead to the falls. I was wrong and we ended up having to walk around a run down building that added another couple of blocks to our walk. Someone is really missing the boat in this area with the crappy run down buildings and lack of any real tourist attractions. Either that or we just choose the worst place to park around the falls. As we are heading toward the crowd I see this guy kind of mulling around the front of this run down building. I just kept telling myself "he is going to hit me up for money" and sure enough he walked up to me and said "excuse me". I just ignored him and finally said "go away" after he persisted. I must look to friendly to panhandlers. We crossed the street to head to Niagara Park. I expected a little nicer area for tourists with some better stores and things. I wasn't expecting all of the "hot dog" carts along the pathway selling all kinds of food. We finally get to the falls after some more misdirection of where to go. That's it, I am going to stop following John :). It's still an awesome sight to see Niagara falls. The beauty and majesty of it is overwhelming. We finally found out how to contain Andrew. Strap him into a stroller and don't let him out. He actually didn't mind being in the stroller for most of the day, but did want to get out and roam a little bit. It was a very busy day around Niagara and filled with a TON of Indian people (dot not feather) for some reason. We went to the visitors center for a potty break but it was too small and too full of people. Again I think someone is missing the boat. We walked around for hours and went on the observation deck to get a better view of the falls. I thought about trying to do the Maid of the Mist ride with the boys, but I think I will save that until they are a bit older and can really appreciate it. We headed from what I think are the horseshoe falls over the the main falls through a real nice park. It was alot of walking, but it wasn't really that bad. The boys did really well and stayed with the group for the most part. It helps having Carrie coral the boys also. We saw where we needed to go if we ever want to go to the caves of Niagara with a huge line waiting to get in. Our last stop was at the main falls. It is so strange that a 4 foot "fence" keeps you inches away form the rapids at the top of the falls and from the falls themselves. Most attractions like this you can't get that close to ever.

After viewing the falls we hit the gift shop and got the boys a couple of T-shirts so they could remember the trip. The Q-kids got a couple of stuffed birds that chirped and sang. (I feel sorry for Carrie:)). Then it was the loooonnngg walk back to our cars. But again it didn't feel that long and we had Andrew contained in the stroller. I was making a contest of seeing if I could hit people with the stroller as they cut in front of me, but I didn't have any successful hits. After going through the gauntlet of crappy stores and people selling hand made jewelry we made it back to the parking garage and find out that they do have an elevator. We thought that we were parked on the 3 rd level, but when we got there we didn't see our cars. John opted for talking the stairs down a level, but I didn't feel like doing that again so opted to just follow the ramp down to the next level, but the ramp didn't exactly go down to the next level. Like I said this is a messed up parking garage. We finally had to jump a railing and pass over the strollers to get to our cars. I so wanted to make a comment to the teller as I was paying my $10, but decided against it. We head back to Rochester on the busy highway 90. I am trying to keep up with John around traffic and through toll gates all the while watching the lightning flashing in the sky. We decide to stop at at Bob Evan's on the way home and feed the children. Ironically it's the same exit that we had stopped a couple of days earlier to eat on the way to Rochester. While we were eating the heavens opened up and it poured rain, but finished before we had to leave. Dining with the boys that night and all during vacation went pretty well in restaurants. Andrew wanted to wander a little bit, but he ate well as long as it was mac and cheese or some other generic kid food. After that it was back on the road with another stop at the Cheesecake Factory for dessert. How Rochester rates one of these and Fort Wayne doesn't I will never know. I didn't realize how close the restaurant was to the Q's house... lucky buggers. We get home and put kids to bed pretty late. I had my dessert and headed for the bed as well since we had a long drive in the morning. I think Jen might have played rockband a little more.

Saturday - We get going with a tearful goodbye. Again shooting for 9:00 but actually leaving a little after 10:00. I get the fun of driving through rain, sometimes downpours, until we get just outside of Cleveland (so about halfway). As we are going into downtown I can see the Cleveland skyline and Lake Erie next to each other. I am not sure how I missed it the first time, but I was probably worried about traffic. Sometime I would like to stop and check out the Rock and Roll hall of fame and an area called "the flats" that my brother and co-workers recommend, but not until the kids get older. After crossing the Ohio state line I started looking for a place to eat. Since we have McDonalds coupons I look for the golden arches. They aren't that easy to find in New York and Pennsylvania (or at least they aren't on the road signs). I pull off on the first sign of McDonalds and end up driving 4 miles into a quaint little town with the restuarant. I would have preferred to stay near the interstate to keep better time, but I wasn't sure how often we would see the signs. Of course just about every exit from there on in had a McDonalds right by the interstate. We make pretty good time through Ohio with another stop for a potty break near Toledo. I decided to fill up Herbie (what the boys call the new minivan) at a toll road rest area. The name of the gas station is Volero so I have never heard of it. I pull up to the pump and get out to pump the gas, I swipe the card and the screen on the pump says " key zip + enter ". Huh? what the hell is a key zip? I know what a key gen is but not a key zip. I figure that it might be some special thing that only Volero gas stations have. I look around the pump to make sure I am not at a special pump or something but don't see. I cancel the transaction thinking that I might have hit a wrong button, but it asks it again. I cancel again and go ask the attendant. "What is a key zip?". He tells me that I need to put in the zip code for the building. What? how the heck would I know what the zip code is for this building??? "No" he said "the zip code for your billing not the building". Opps I felt like such a dolt. I am surprized that Jen didn't poke her head out the window wondering what I was doing. The freakin' display on the gas pump has enough room for at least 80 characters, how hard would it be to actually type out "Key in billing zip code and press enter". Let's see....39 would do it. So anyway, we get to the Indiana state line and to hwy 69. The next 40 miles are a cake walk since we do it all the time coming back from the in-laws place. It is around 7:30pm and we figure that if we go for it we could be home before 8:30, or the other option was to stop for dinner. We chose to stop for dinner since there wasn't that much to eat at home since we purged most of the food due to vacation. We decided to do one last splurge and go to Caruso's at the lake James exit. We love this place, but rarely get to go since it is too far from Fort Wayne to drive and we are usually too tired after visiting the in-laws to stop on the way home. We had a nice dinner and the boys did pretty well also. The last 40 miles went real quick, and it felt good to get home. Another 11 hours in Herbie, but again the boys did very well with only a few little fusses. We got home to a cool evening that allowed us to open the windows and air the house out a little bit. We get the boys to bed and do a little bit of unloading and putting away and just general collapse. I finally get up to bed after 11:00 and fall asleep very vast. Unfortunately I forgot that it was Sunday night so the garbage truck comes promptly at 5:30am which is even louder since we have the windows open. William joins us at 6:00am but he finally falls asleep in our bed. I got up at 6:30 since I had to take Herbie into for servicing on the way to work. And also I get to be out on the floor walking back and fourth and helping with a phone book for the past 4 days, so I am still trying to catch up on sleep and rest. And of course trying to find a few minutes here and there to write this blog entry. It's taken me 4 days!!!

Besides some of the issues that we had with Andrew the trip went well. Herbie did well too with 1250 miles in all of our driving around. He got a little better than 27 mpg on the way out but a little less on the way home due to the rain and windy conditions. Thank you to the Q's (if you are still reading this diatribe) who have a very nice place is a pretty cozy city. We hope to see you again real soon......

A corny kind of weekend

2008-08-04T10:20:00.004-05:00

Friday night we headed to Turtletown (Churubusco) for a high school graduation / bon voyage party for a friends' daughter. The daughter was heading down to campus on Saturday to begin her collage career at IUPUI. On the way out we had to go past alot of corn fields, which are in their peak growing season, so they are at least 6 - 8 feet high. William asks what they were and it occured to me that I never really explained where corn came from or showed him a corn stalk being the city boy that I am. So I was describing how that is were corn comes from. Upon getting to the party out in the country, it is right next to a corn field. So I take the boys over to the field and show them the corn stalks. Unfortunately there wasn't any corn on the stalk yet so the lesson might have been a bit lost on them. Anyway, the party was pretty fun. Filled with high school kids everywhere. The boys (especially Andrew) had no problem walking up to everyone and saying hello. It was all in part with the persuit of the dog that they wanted to pet. I was able to get the boys on a trampoline in the backyard too. They hadn't been on one of these in quite some time and seemed to have alot of fun. I commented to Jen that we might have to get one. This is where I find out that she is ethically, morally, and religiously against trampolines. OK not really all of those, but it's more of a safety issue with her. I comment how can it not be safe with all the padding and mesh walls? And we don't have to worry about a dog eating it unlike some others..(*Keith*-cough). We might have to revisit this one in a few years, we will see. So after hanging out for a while we head home to get the kids to bed.

Saturday Jen had to get up and go to work so the boys and I just hung out for the morning. After Jen got home we headed to church. After church Jen and Christoper dropped the rest of us off and Menards to get some supplies while she went to get dinner and a few groceries. We are trying not to stock up on perishable supplies too much because we are heading to Rochester later this week. So the boys and I wander Menards and buy "stuff". My plan was to try and get the battery backup installed for the sump pump again so I could worry less being out of the house on vacation. So yes finally after a year of talking about it I am finally getting it done. We get home and have dinner. After putting the boys to bed Jen and I break out Indiana Jones Lego on the Wii. We are real close to finishing the game, but I am sure that there is alot that we have missed and will require us to go through the game again and again. We ended up playing it until 2:00am.

Sunday morning came real early with the boys. After getting everyone up and together we headed over the the in-laws. Every year they get bags of corn on the cob. The menfolk usually are in the garage de-husking the corn and the womenfolk are usually inside where they boil the corn and cut it off the cob. Then they bag the corn separately and freeze it for the year. Actually most of the corn is for Thanksgiving at their house, but there is quite a bit left for the rest of the year. I believe we did 16 dozen ears of corn (about 200). It actually went pretty quick out in the garage with the boys helping us by taking the de-husked corn inside for Jen and her mom to boil and bag. They actually helped de-husk and take the silk off of some of the corn. Overall it took us about 3 or 4 hours to do all of the corn. Oh and did I mention that it is the in laws 40 wedding anniversary? Nothing says like happy 40 years like doing corn. oh well, they don't usually celebrate birthdays or anniversaries that often and usually not actually on the day of the event. After finishing the corn we were talking about taking the in laws out to dinner for their anniversary, but I really wanted to get the backup installed. So we ended up just getting a bucket of the Colonel for a quick lunch at the house. After that I could have really used a nap, but I headed for the house with my father in law and brother in law. My brother in law has just started a new career as a plumbers apprentice, so that might come in real handy. The directions for the install are pretty basic and not real descriptive so it scared the crap out of me. Overall the install went pretty good. Yes there was a minor flood when the check valve fell off the pipe and drenched my brother in law, but as he says "at least it wasn't poopy water". (he had some experience with that unfortunately). And I had to make another trip to menards for a part, but only ONE trip which is a record for us. Still the sump pump worries me anyway, and now we have cut pipes, installed more hardware, and are relying on alot of "I guess it goes there" kind of installation. I am sure eventually I will stop worrying about it. So 3 hours of installing that I head back and pick up the family. We get home and get the kids a bath and into bed REAL late. Jen talked about trying to finish the Indiana Jones game since we only had one more chapter to do, but I was way to tired. But I am not too tired to all of a sudden go into a panic that we have alot to do in two days before leaving for Rochester. I know it's not like we are going overseas, but still we haven't actually taken a vacation in two years, and not with 3 kids, so we have alot to try and get done.

what word comes to mind after viewing this commercial?

2008-07-28T15:10:00.002-05:00

Man, this commercial rubs me the wrong way. Every time I see it I think "what a little b*tch". Like she is lowering herself to go out with this guy when the star quarterback is trying to call her. Guess what you little ***t, you aren't that hot and he just wants to nail you!! Like she is degrading herself to go out with a seemingly nice guy. And the whole "eye roll" when he licks the cup, while it is a little gross, makes me want to punch this chick. I think we have all known a girl like this (at least the guys). Before I made any comments about this commercial the other night, Jen looked over to me and said "what a b*tch".

Sorry I just had to vent.

The experiment is almost over

2008-07-25T14:04:00.003-05:00

A year ago I was going over the need for a cell phone. I knew with the baby on the way in January and just general need to stay in contact that I needed to get one. Cost was a major factor. Even on the "cheap" plans by the time you throw in all of the fees and bullsh*t charges it worked out to be over $40 a month (at least). I have own various other cell phones in my life, and I have am not a high minute user, so the promise of "unlimited weekend minutes" or any other "special offers" wasn't a big draw for me. I looked at the "pay as you go" phones but those plans were still B.S. with the fees and access charges. Then I looked into the prepaid phones. I had looked into them before, but to get minutes you had to buy cards, and they expired after 60 days, and it just seemed like a pain. But then I came across a phone that was good for a year and came with 1000 minutes. Would I use 1000 minutes in a year? I didn't know. Especially since we don't have long distance at the house (again a budget issue) we would use the cell for that as well. So I plopped down $150 for the phone and 1000 minute year card. You can't find any cell phone offer for around $12.50 (total) a month including voicemail/caller ID/ and other features.

Well, my minutes are set to expire on August 10th and I still have 117 minutes to use up. I figure that our trip to Rochester will burn up those minutes (or one conversation between Jen and Carrie). I think overall this phone is a good fit for me. I am going to get another "year" card and try it again for this year. It would be nice to get one for Jen too. If no other reason than being able to talk to Carrie a little more often. My mom has also expressed interest in getting one of these phones as well. I should see if they have a referral program. The only minor complaint that I have about the phone is the battery. I make sure that I run the phone down to nothing before I recharge it, but it doesn't seem to hold a very good charge if you are using it. Maybe I will splurge for a new one.

It was a little hot

2008-07-21T13:21:00.003-05:00

We had a very busy weekend. Friday morning I helped my cousin Marc move. I volunteered the use of a work truck to help with the move which entailed me getting up at 6:30am to drive out to work to drive back north to get to his house by 8:00am. We had to get an early start on the move since I had a distant family reunion to get to by noon. I was a little worried when I was the only one there, but very quickly there was alot of hands to help load. My goal was just to get the big stuff loaded and over to the new house so I could get to my other event. They actually left some of the furniture in the house since they are still trying to sell it so that made the load a little less, but we still managed to load the entire 26 foot truck up. I was also hoping by getting an early start that we could possibly avoid some of the heat of the day, but that didn't work as my shirt was quickly drenched by the many trips up and down the narrow stairway. I drove the truck over to the new house and the many hands followed to make the unload go just as well. Marc has a very nice house that doesn't look like it need too much work and a nicely finished basement. (It makes me want to get going on my basement again) Marc had originally planned on moving that day since it would have been about a month before the baby was due,but leave it to the little whipper snapper to show up early. Peter was born last friday and had to spend the last week in the NICU unit at dupont to make sure that his lungs were properly developed, but he was cleared to go home Sunday (the day after the move). I feel sorry for Marc and Julie with having to move and having a child in the same week since Jen and I have done the same thing (or similiar) situation with our children. So not only do they get to deal with trying to arrange a new household, but also have to deal with a new child (first time parents). I am sure they will do fine, they have a great family around them. Anyway, after we unload them I run back to the office and drop off the truck. Luckily I had planned ahead and knew I would probably be sweaty so I brought a change of clothes and clean up a little before heading out. Lucky for me Foster park isn't too far from the office so I didn't have far to run.

Let's see if I can explain whay I called it a distant family reunion earlier. These people are my grandmothers side of the family, so also my mom's cousins. We used to get together every year. There was usually a party on Friday night at the lake cottage, golf on saturday morning with more partying saturday after noon, and then a family cookout at the lake place. I am not real sure why these get togethers ended. I think it was just because trying to get everyone together at a same date was a pain with all of the other family stuff that comes along. I was pretty much a kid the last time we were all together, ok maybe late teens, so it had been probably 20 years or so since I had seen everyone. By the time I got there everyone was already there. I remember or know a few of these people and was in the process of trying to talk to some of them. The huge playground at Foster park was right next to the pavilion so my boys were all over that. I spent the rest of the after noon in the playground area trying to keep an eye on the boys so I didn't get a chance to visit that much. Both of the boys are on a kick where they love wearing their lightning McQueen baseball caps so they were soaking in sweat playing in their hats in the upper 80 degree weather. After a couple of hours of that we decided to take off for home. I took the boys while Jen headed for a sale at the mall. I put christopher and Andrew (and myself) down for a nap when we got home. Saturday night was bathtime for the boys (again) and then to bed. I didn't get to bed until 1:00am, then the f*****g cat slams our bedroom door at 4:00am, and then a thunderstorm goes through at 5:30am, leaving us with a bed full of children for an hour. After that the boys played downstairs for the most part letting us try and catch a few more winks of sleep, but they kept calling me downstairs for juice, or cereal, or more juice, or .... you get the idea. So we got up and got ready for church. After church Dan and I decided to play golf. We met up at Arlington Park for a quick 9 holes. We originally talked about playing at cherry hill, but the day I had on saturday I wasn't sure that I wanted to do a full 18 holes. The weather wasn't that bad with the occasional breeze that made it bearable outside. There was no one playing ahead of us, but a bunch of people playing behind us. It's not that we were playing that slow, we were keeping a good pace, but I prefer to play a little slower than that. Dan claimed to not having touched a club in a few years, but he came out of the clubhouse playing like tiger freaking woods. He was putting together par after par after par and ended up smoking me by 4 strokes. I can tell you that almost never happens when we play together. We had a good time and some good conversations about life in general. After we were done playing I headed home. We had asked mom to watch the kids Sunday night so Jen and I could go out for our anniversary. Yep 7 years ago she took pitty on me a married my sorry butt. J/K. We headed over to Granite City to have dinner. Jen had never been there, and my only experience wasn't that great, but I had high hopes. Overall the food was very good, but whooooo it was pricey ($16 for ravioli is nuts). I think we will stick to Triangle Park for our special dinners. Another early start on Monday as the garbage truck comes at 5:30am and wakes both of the boys up. Busy weekend, but I didn't get anything done around the house.

Another year older

2008-07-16T14:22:00.003-05:00

Yep, Monday was my birthday. I didn't really have any plans since I wasn't real sure of Jen's work schedule. I was thinking that if Jen didn't work that we would go out for a nice dinner without the kids. Why is it we are trying to get rid of the kids to have a "nice" dinner? Probably since we know it will be "nice" not having to deal with the worry of keeping the kids from destroying a restaurant. Anyhow. We find out that Jen didn't have to work and my mom offers to have a get together at her house. She suggests a few things for dinner with one being lasagna. ooohhh yeah I will never say no to a good lasagna. We ended up with quite the group including the in-laws and my brother and sister in law. The boys had a blast playing with Uncle Dan and Uncle Jim. Dinner was delicious but very filling. Jen made me a very good yellow cake with homemade chocolate frosting. We finally headed home after 9:00 so we could get the boys to bed at a decent time.

I also got the Lego Indiana Jones game from my dad (it pays to blog what you like). I was a little worried when I threw it in since it wasn't loading very well, but I tried it again later and it loaded alot better. Jen got me a new controller so she can play also.

There was one, kind of annoying thing that happened. I got not one but THREE of those cards where you open them and it plays a song. The boys LOVE these cards and are continually opening and closing them, and open and close, and open and close. Quite the mix of Quiet Riot's "Cum on feel the noise", Otis day and the knights "shout" and one card that just "clucks". The batteries do wear out don't they?

All kidding aside I had a great time....

I am going to have to call Bullsh*t on that one

2008-07-15T08:12:00.002-05:00

I have read many stories about "global warming". It is becoming annoying on the laundry list of things that they are blaming on it or what MIGHT be the effect of it in 50 - 70 years from now. Anything different in the world seems like it is blamed on global warming. Say a bird flies south rather than south southeast by a few degrees. Global warming. A weed grows 4 inches rather than 5 inches. Global warming. Cow poop MIGHT be more acidic 80 years from now. Global warming. I agree we need to take better care of the Earth, but it seems like scientists are tying any baloney study they are trying to get funding for, into global warming. BUT I am going to have to call bullsh*t on this one. According to a FRONT PAGE article in USA today they say that global warming MAY raise kidney stone risk. huh? According to the article "Kidney stones result from salts crystallizing in the kidneys, often triggered by dehydration, causing famously painful blockages." Uh no. Take it from someone who has dealt with kidney stones for years, they don't know what actually causes kidney stones. According to my doctors kidney stones could be caused by either a chemical imbalance in the brain where the body produces too much salt, or it is stress related (also inherited, thanks dad:)). They are claiming that because it is hotter in the south the chances of dehydration are better. That is kinda true I guess,but I can get just as dehydrated in the North. Also according to the article there is a kidney stone "belt" were kidney stones happen more often. And it will head North... in 40 years because it will be warmer to the North. Again no way to prove it or be accountable for it in 40 years since they will be dead. Of course could it be that there are more cases in the South because that's where all the old people go and it effects them more often? nooooooo. Global warming. They PREDICT that the cost of treating kidney stones will increase 25 percent (in 40 years... maybe). Uh duh. That's actually cheaper than the cost of living increase. I would take that. They also claim that kidney stones happen more often in summer. Ok, kidney stones don't happen overnight. They take months (or years) to form, so I would believe the study if it had an increase in the fall,but that wouldn't make for a good bullsh*t, everybody panic, statistic.

I think I have ranted enough. It's just a good idea to stay properly hydrated and the system flushed out is all the article had to say.

That was kinda cool

2008-07-11T12:45:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I am doing some running around for my work. On my way out I see a sign for a business down the road that they are having a garage sale. They do this every once in a while. It's kind of unusual to see a huge warehouse having a "garage sale". Not knowing what they actually do in this run down looking warehouse I am thinking that their "garage sale" is where employees bring in their crap and they have an impromptu flee market. Its strange because it's only tues-thurs and ftom 8 - 4. On the way back to the office I decide to stop by and check it out. Much to my surprise the place is very crowded. Come to find out this little warehouse is America's leading manufacturer and marketer of outdoor products, household consumer products, and professional kitchen textiles. They had quite a few different cushions for outdoor furniture. Very unique and different patterns that you wouldn't find in most box stores. The part that interested me was that they had quite a few unique patio umbrellas. I need a new one since I sold my miller lite umbrella in the last garage sale. Unfortunately the garage sale is poorly organized so everything isn't marked and no one is around to help you, but the one umbrella that I saw was $35 which is a pretty good deal. Of the stuff that was actually marked, I could have gotten a pair of oven mitts for 25 cents. Who knew our next door neighbor actually had some cool stuff. Next sale I might go earlier in the week or in the day so I can talk to someone and see if they have more stuff earlier in the week.

http://www.ardencompanies.com/

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TV trouble

2008-07-11T12:21:00.002-05:00

A few months back I reported about our big screen TV having a problem. It wouldn't turn on and just kept "chirping". Well we found out the simple solution was to unplug the TV wait for a while and then plug it back in so it can reset itself. (a repair suggested by the techs at Philips). The tech guy at philips knows exactly what the problem is and it a pretty simple part. I just don't know if I can fix it myself or not. Over the past couple of months we have had to do this a couple of times when it stopped working. Well I get home yesterday and mom tells me that the TV isn't working. I unplug it and go about the task of feeding the boys and the other stuff I do when I get home. After about 10 minutes I plug it in and it still "chirps". Crap. So I unplug it again and do other stuff and listen to the radio. After two hours I plug it back in and "Chirp, chirp,chirp". I am thinking that the TV might have finally bought the farm. I surfed the net looking for new TV's and more importantly a company with special deals on financing. The only one that I found on-line was circuit city with no payment and no interest for a certain amount of time. While I was at Sears buying parts for the gill (yet something else I am trying to get a few more years out of) I see a 42 inch plasma for $855 on sale so I was using that as my baseline. Overall I found most of the places that I looked had 42" for around $800ish. With the deal at circuit city it would be about $25 a month for three years, interest free. Of course I find a 50" projection for $999 which works out to $55 a month for 18 month interest free. I guess I really don't need to go as big as 42", but I have a feeling that anything less in the front room would look real tiny. We will find out when I bring the TV from the front room into the main room for the weekend. I think that's around 28". I am going to make every effort to fix the old TV (as long as it is cost effective) because I have no idea how I would get rid of a TV that big. I am thinking that it will require a trip to the dump. Who knows, maybe this is another one of those things I can put on the curb and the junk guys will come and pick it up.

Q collective (pt. II) / 4th of July weekend

2008-07-07T12:05:00.002-05:00

Wednesday- After getting all the kiddies into bed we broke out the indiana jones game and played and played and played. Finally at 2 am we were all too tired to continue and called it a night. We were trying to get far enough in to let Jen see some Lego "face melting" in the final scene of raiders of the lost arc. We got to it, but it wasn't as dramatic as the movie.

Thursday - The boys were up promptly at 7:00am. Damn... 5 hours of sleep is not enough. I took the day off work so we could have some quality time with the Q's. I got up and went for a haircut. After that I had a few errands to run. First on the list was stopping by the in-laws and pick up some wood for a fire pit for the night's party, but it was raining so I made that the last thing. Instead I went over to Sam's club to get some party supplies. We just recently got a membership again after a few years. I was having fun looking all over the store at just about everything, but decided that I better get home since I didn't know what the plans for the day were. So I picked up the plates and cups that Jen needed and started heading toward the checkout when I realized that I didn't have the checkbook, crap. Since I knew that Sam's doesn't take credit I grabbed the checkbook, but left it in the car. So a quick calculation of what I had added up to under $20 which I had in my wallet, cool, but I wanted to buy some Sam Adams beer, so that would defiantly take me out of the cash that I had. So now what to do. I thought about taking the two items to the front to see if they would hold them for me, but it looked real busy. If I would have had a cart I would have just left the cart there for a few minutes. Finally I decided to put the things back on the shelves while I got the checkbook. So from the front of the store, to the back of the store, to the car, to the back of the store, and back to the front of the store. That was quite a walk. I go to grab the Sam Adams and find out they don't sell it, so I could have used the cash that I had for the plates and cups and saved myself the walk. oh well. I stop at the inlaws to get the wood and look at their bathroom remodel and then to Walmart on the way home. After I got home we decided to pack up the kids and head to the zoo. That was pretty fun and I think the kids enjoyed it. I took William and Andrew on their first log ride at the zoo. I hadn't been on that ride in many many years, but I seem to remember being able to see animals on the ride (kind of like the train). You could kind of see the kangaroo's through the thick brush and a pen for an animal that wasn't there. After the zoo we headed home to get ready for the party. Jen and Carrie had prepared alot of the food in the morning, so all they had to do was throw it together when we got home. The party went pretty well except for Izzy and her face plant into the mulch under the swing set and Andrew throwing up all over the swing. I found an old bag of fireworks that I have had in the basement for years and ended up shooting off a few of them with the help of Tracy's boys. The one fireworks had some scary fuses so I was being real careful with them, but they were really cool. I hadn't shoot off fireworks in years. I think I might have finally toasted my blender with that pitcher of margaritas. The engine didn't sound right and there was a residue on the counter the next day. The party kind of broke up and we were just visiting with Jeff and family, so we broke up the Wii again. Again before we knew it, it was 2:00am. Man that game is addictive. During the game I got a bad cramp in my upper thigh and that freakin hurt. I have never had a cramp there and I don't ever want one again. Of course during the night I got a cramp in my lower leg on the other leg so it evened out.

Friday - The boys are up at 7:30. The Q's get up and going to meet John's sister for breakfast before heading home. It's hard to believe they were here for 4 days, but we had alot of fun. I know the boys did for sure. After the Q's left we just sat down and commented how quiet the house was :)... We did some quick clean up from the party and tried to decide what to do for the day. We decided to head up to the lake for the day and visit the in laws. We got up there and the boys played in the trailer and just the general running around. I found a lounge chair and ended up taking a nap. I am not real sure how long I was out. It felt like 5 minutes, but it might have been closer to an hour or more. We took the boys swimming, but they spent most of the time playing on the beach. The water was COLD. I tried to get into it, but when the water got over my knees and near my boys, my body just said "that's far enough." I have dove into the water when it was this cold before, but I am not sure my body can handle that shock again. We headed home pretty early so we could get the boys to bed at a decent time, and everyone fell asleep in the van. Good thing I took that nap earlier. I spent the rest of the night listening to the mortar barrage outside my window until midnight. Man alot of people have enough disposable income for fireworks.

Saturday- didn't do very much that day. It was a recovery day for the house. I had thought about packing the boys up and visiting grandma, but I wanted to make sure that Christopher and Andrew got naps in the afternoon, so it became too late to do that.

Sunday - Church in the morning and then outside to work on a few projects. The bigger project that was bugging me was the grill. One, it hadn't been cleaned since we bought it and it was caked pretty good with goo and Two, I needed to tear it apart to find out what parts I need to replace. The burner is gone, the drip plate is rusted out, and the electronic ignitor hasn't been working in a year. So after cleaning it up and taking inventory I figure for about $40 I can get the old grill working almost like new.

The Q collective is in town

2008-07-02T08:25:00.003-05:00

The Q collective is in town. They came in Monday night much to the joy of the boys as the non stop playing didn't stop until dark. We fed the kids chicken nuggets, but decided to grab some Fish of Stroh for the adults. I haven't had fish of stroh in quite a few years and it was pretty good, but not exactly how I remember. I think they might have changed the breading recipe a little bit with the new owners. It was good, but holy crap it was expensive. After finally getting the kids to bed we just sat around and visited. Yesterday both Jen and I had to work so the Q's just drove around the fort and visited John's sister. A funny thing; as the Q's were visiting they were keeping an eye on the clock and thought, 8:30, time to get the kids to bed, but upon getting into the car they see that it is actually 9:30. Either John's sister either didn't "spring ahead" or he read the clock wrong. After all had been fed, it was the job of getting the brood into bed. Mary was having an issue and cranky. Our boys were in bed but Andrew was being a little pistol and wouldn't stay in bed. Finally Jen had to sit up on the landing to keep him from getting up and he fell asleap quickly after that. Unfortunatly that was almost 11:00. So with the kids to bed it was time to break out the Wii. The Q's brought a few games and I actually wanted to play them since the last time they were in town I didn't get a chance to play them due to the fact that the kids took the Wii over at the party that we had. And with us having another party on Thursday night this would be probably one of the only chances that I would have to play. Another funny story; Carrie brought a couple of Wii steering wheels to play mario cart, but as I am getting ready to load in the game, I open the case, and no disc. Opps. We all got a laugh at that. So we ended up opening John's father's day gift "Lego Indiana Jones". Man that is alot of fun. This is the first time I have played anything in the lego series since again every time we play these games the kids take over. After John and I played for a while (and got stuck) we handed the controls over to the womenfolk and grabbed a snack. I think Jen and Carrie had a good time playing the game. Time flew and it was after midnight before I knew it. During the night Izzy had an issue and not a happy camper either. This morning I found her and Carrie downstairs asleep. I will find out what happened when I get home. So far the visit has been lostsa fun with only a couple more days until they head to the East. :( I actually enjoy the pandelerium when they visit.

Movie Review

2008-06-30T11:50:00.004-05:00

So Sunday we get up slowly since the kids were at Grandma's house. I found out the the Q Collective is coming to the house on Monday and not on Thursday like I initially thought. So we decided to get the house cleaned (at least picked up) for their visit. We decided this early, but weren't able to actually get our butts out of the chairs until 10:30 or so. It's so nice to clean house without the boys "help". Around 1:00 Jen got ready to go to work. Christopher and I ran over to Walmart to buy an air mattress. We need one for the Q's visit, but we can think of a couple other times where it might come in real handy. We get there and I just totally luck out and find where they are hiding these things since it is in the absolute back corner of the store. I kind of remember air mattresses being pretty expensive when we priced them before, but find a pretty nice one for only $17 which blew me away. Next I looked at a pump. I could have gotten a mattress that included the pump, but it was battery operated and I really didn't want to try and keep 4 D cell batteries around for the couple of time a year I would need it. I looked for a plug in pump and it was $18! I finally decided to go for the old fashioned hand pump, but we will see how it works. After that Christopher and I picked up the boys at grandma's house. Overall they did real well for grandma. They had fun playing in the new inflatable pool that she had bought and ate just about everything in sight. We went home and I put Christopher and Andrew down for naps, which they both needed. After naps, grandma Sue showed up to watch Christopher and William and Andrew and I took off for the theater. They were real excited to see Wall-E. I showed up and bought tickets as we waited for Jen to get off of work. Actually we were seeing the movie with other Disney Store employees (case members) so I had a chance to chat with them while we were waiting. The boys were eager to get inside. I was getting worried that we wouldn't have a chance to get a good seat if they were sold out. We have done this before for opening weekend with her co-workers and had to deal with very crowded shows, but one of her coworkers came out and told us that the theater wasn't crowded at all. Whew. I hate a crowded theater and its even worse since I will need to get something on the isle for the potty breaks. So Jen shows up and we go into the show. I try to get a picture of the boys with the cardboard cutout in the lobby, but I think they were a little scared of it. As we were walking to our seats the theater goes dark for the previews. Whew, that was just in time. This was Andrews first trip to a movie theater so I wasn't sure how he would like it, but he seemed to like it alot. He spent the entire movie in my lap just staring at the screne. I wasn't sure if he liked the movie or was just so tired for the lack of sleep. William must have liked it too since he didn't take any potty breaks at all during the movie. Overall it is a pretty entertaining movie. I was trying to avoid any reviews about the movie, but I had heard that it actually had a " eco message" to it, crap. I don't mind movies with eco messages in them, I just don't want to see them in a cartoon. I loved the movie "happy feet" a lot, right until they got to the eco message in the movie. That was quite a bit of an "in your face" message how humans were bad. I was hoping this didn't turn that way too, and lucky for me it didn't. The movie went very fast and both boys enjoyed it alot. I took the boys home and quickly into bed. We decided to put both boys in the same room to get them ready for bunking together for the Q's visit and they did pretty good about not messing around too much. Of course the stupid garbage truck comes around at 5:30am and wakes both of them up, so they had an early start today. They will need to pace themselves for the Q's visit...

We actually left the house on a saturday night !!!!

2008-06-30T10:19:00.005-05:00

Saturday night there was a surprise birthday party for Jen's uncle Ken. We worked out an overnight stay for the two boys at grandma Diane's house which worked out well since mom and I had been talking about doing another overnight try. Jen had to work (big surprise) so after church I met up with Jen at home and we took the boys over to grandma's house. After dropping them off we headed across town. The party was being hosted by Ken's girlfriend at her house near 469 and hwy 27. We pulled up to this old farm house on 5 or 6 acres with no one else near. It is a fantastic party place that is very secluded so you didn't have to worry about annoying or being annoyed by the neighbors. Anne had a DJ for the Hawaiian themed party. She did a fantastic job decorating her garage and the surrounding area. By the time we arrived, Jen's parents were there along with her brother and some other aunts and uncles. Anne put out quite the spread with all kids of snacks and munchies. I tried to stay away form the nuts since I don't need them for my stomach, but they were so good and it has been a while since we don't keep nuts in the house on account of William and my stomach. So I go for a beer, which I know there would be plenty of. Hmmmmm which of the 12 coolers should I go to for my beer. You know it's a good party when there are 12 coolers. So I am walking around and talking and snacking when Anne tells me about another fire pit around the corner of the woods and that she wants to start it. I tell her that I am more the qualified to burn sh*t, so I offer to start it. The challenge is that I am trying to start wood pallets on fire (it's a big fire pit). she doesn't have any kerosene, but she does have some gasoline. Uh no on the gasoline. So she finds some torch fluid and I figure that would work. So I douse the pallets and try to light them, no good, finally I grab some cardboard from the cases of beer, put a little fluid on those and it starts really well. I had it going real good with 3 pallets on it, but almost no one saw it. The weather was fantastic and the bugs weren't too bad.... oh man, I just thought I could have started the fire by lighthing the spray of the bug stuff.. . About midnight the party was still going well and the dancing started to begin. We decided that it was proabably a good idea to head home. I just heard that the party broke up around 6:00am, but I will have to get confirmation on that. We stopped by mom's house to pick up Christopher on the way home and leaned that the boys were behaving pretty good, but they were up very late. After putting Christopher to bed I was feeling very awake and turned the TV on. As soon as my head it the pillow I was asleap. Even though I had the opportunity to sleep in without the boys waking me up, I still was looking at the clock at 7:00 am, but forced myself to stay asleap until after 8:30. ahhhhhhh. Grandma was not as fortunate as both the boys were up and in her face by 7:00am. It was a fun night.

Here is a video of us singing happy birthday to uncle Ken and in keeping with the Clymer family tradition they sing it badly.

the winds might be changing

2008-06-27T15:19:00.006-05:00

For a couple of years now the absolute favorite cartoon character for the boys has been Lightning McQueen. They don't even watch the movie that much but they love the character. Now the winds of change might be in the air. The boys have seen a few previews for the new pixar movie Wall-E and they are freaking out excited. I told the boys earlier this week that we will be going to see the movie this weekend and now they can't stop talking about the movie... and they haven't even seen it yet. They ask me just about every day if it is time to see the movie. Both the boys are imitating the character and they are making the noises that he makes. "Cars" was the first movie that we took William to in the theater. "Wall-e" will be the first movie that we will be taking Andrew to in a movie theater. This should be interesting. William was three for his first movie and Andrew will be 2 and a half, but I think he is a little more ready for the theater experience. Hopefully seeing this movie won't require me to redecorate any bedrooms. I am trying not to read any reviews to taint my movie going experience. Stay tuned for a movie review.

That was kinda funny

2008-06-26T15:02:00.003-05:00

I have seen the previews for this new "wipeout" show for a month or so now. It's similar and probably a pretty blatant rip off of "most extreme challenge" (MXC) that is filmed in Japan and has english over dubs. This show usually airs on spike TV. Anyway, the show features people trying to get through an obstacle course with difficult challenges that is pretty physically challenging. Basically its people getting the crap beat out of them on national TV. The show itself is very entertaining, but the Japanese version is still funnier. The part that was a little annoying was that almost every contestant wasn't in any physical shape to complete the course. Now I like to see people hit the mud every once in a while, but I also like to see people complete the course or at least have a chance to complete the course. Luckily they edit out the larger contestants taking 10 - 15 minutes to complete the course. There were some later challenges where a group was on a course at one time with the challenge to get to a finish line first, and they took turns at the challenge. No, the object of the game is to COMPETE for the challenge and not be so friggin nice about it. Overall a very entertaining show and it did very well in the ratings so we will hopefully see it for the rest of the summer.

Maybe the 5th time is the charm... it better be..

2008-06-25T13:43:00.002-05:00

I love the new van. It's comfortable, all the kids fit in perfectly (with room to spare), and it has a very nice ride.... BUT... it is starting to vex me a little bit. After purchasing the van we noticed a few small problems that it had. Nothing major but stuff that should work in a new (er) van. There were two things we took it in for. One was a non working vent window in the back and the other was an airbag problem. If there isn't at least 45 pounds in the passenger seat the airbag should deactivate, I guess in case there is a child in the front, but it never deactivated. Well first trip into the place we bought it both problems were diagnosed, but no parts were on hand. Second time in they fixed the vent window, but got a defective part for the airbag and it wasn't fixed. The third time back, when Jen arrived for the appointment the part wasn't delivered yet. We probably should have called to make sure the part was in, but usually that doesn't fall us to track down a part. They called 3 hours later in the day to tell us the part was in, but by then Jen was doing other things. So that brings us to today. Jen takes the van in for the 4th time. They install the part, but the electronics don't hook up. They figure the wrong part was put in the correct part box. So I am sitting here trying to figure out how pissed to be. I am not really that put off since there isn't any cost on our end for the service (warranty), and we like the place we took the van. But Jen has wasted 4 (going to be 5) days tracking down babysitters (again free, but still) and burning gas to take it across town and wasting her time. Jen was close to going off on them today, but I think she has alot of the same thoughts that I do that it is just unfortunate circumstances. If there is a problem the next time I am going to make some phone calls to managers and such for sure, but for now I will just believe that the 5th time is a charm and hope this is the last problem we will have for a long time.

Jen's Birthday weekend

2008-06-23T10:28:00.002-05:00

Jen's birthday was Saturday, but I tried to make the whole weekend of stuff that she wanted to do or things she enjoyed. She had to work both Saturday and Sunday, but we threw in alot of stuff around her working.

Friday night we took up Jeff's invite to go out to Jefferson Point for the free concert thing that they have. I had never really been to one of these things so wasn't sure what to expect. I figured that there would be a small crowd with shoppers stopping occasionally to hear the band, but it ended up being a HUGE crowd with probably a couple hundred people sitting all over the place. They rope off the area around the fountain and it turns out being a beer/wine garden where you can get an adult beverage. We show up around 7:00 and run into friends we know and catch up with them. What a perfect night with temps in the mid 70's and a clear sky. After talking with our friends a while we walk around trying to find Jeff and whoever else. I finally had to call his cell since I couldn't find him and they were in the food court, but unfortunately they had to leave shortly after we got together. The boys were more interested in running around then actually sitting there and visiting or listening to the band, so we spent most of that time running to both ends of Jefferson point. At one end of the run we decided to stop for dinner since Jen and I hadn't eaten. We ran into Panera's (one of Jen's favorites) for a sandwich. The sandwich that I had was pretty good, but I am still not a huge fan of this restaurant. Little pricey and the bread is always tough. (I know it's supposed to be that way, for some reason) The boys did rather well just watching us eat and playing. After that we went to get Jen a black and white truffle (again a fav) from Debrands. On the way home we stopped by Zestos and got some ice cream. Andrew is a bigger fan of the cone than the actual ice cream and doesn't get the fact that it has to be eaten right away or it melts. He will milk his lunch for half an hour if we let him. We got home around 9:30 and put the kids to bed.

Saturday morning was another 6:50am wake up from the boys. Jen went into work early so she could have the night off. The boys and I just played around the house and did stuff. Jen got home from work actually on time (big shock) and not too long after that the in-laws showed up. We arranged for the in-laws to watch the kids while we went over to Cinema Grille to see the new "Get Smart" film. I had heard mixed reviews about this movie so I was a bit hesitant. We haven't been to the Cinema Grille in years so I was a little surprised by some of the cost. It was $7 a piece just to get into the movie. I remember it being alot cheaper the last time. The dinner was a bit pricey for what it was too, but it's a splurge on our part. The movie was actually very good and I recommend it. Some of the funnier parts were in the previews like to be expected. I wish I wouldn't have watched the previews beforehand since those scenes would have put me on the floor in laughter rather than just a good laugh. There are more parts that are just as funny. Overall the Cinema Grille experience is still a good one and alot of fun to do. After the movie got out we decided to run over to Ritters for more ice cream (two nights in a row is a record). It was another fantastic night outside that was a little cool, but very comfortable with some thunderstorms in the distance making for quite the show. I have found that when Jen and I do these date nights without the kids I find it hard to actually take a moment to enjoy myself since it like I am always in a hurry to get home and take care of kids or worry about the grandparent taking care of them. I guess we will just have to do it more often. We get home to a quiet house and visit with the in-laws for a bit. You might as what did I get for Jen? I got her a salt dispenser from the Food Network that she has been wanting for a while now. Big fan of Alton Brown's salt dispenser. And I got her some new pajamas since she commented about them a couple of weeks ago. Around birthday's and holidays I usually make a trek to the Disney store to see if Jen has dropped any comments about what she wants to her co-workers. I am very lucky to know the manager and assistant manager really well so they can be my spies when I need :)

Sunday we got up (another 7:00am morning) and went to church. After I cut grass while Jen gabbed with Carrie, almost forgetting what time she had to be to work. The boys and I played all day and Jen brought home a pizza for dinner. Overall we did quite a bit this weekend, but it was alot of fun. Happy Birthday Jen!!

Let's take the day off

2008-06-20T08:57:00.002-05:00

So I had a dentist appointment on Tuesday at 8:00am. The original plan was to just take half a day off and go into work at noon, but a couple of weeks ago I got an email from my cousin Marc asking if I wanted to get a round of golf in. Well let's just turn that half a day into a whole day and have a little fun. And he had a coupon.. Score!! The dentist was pretty uneventful and just the clean and scrape that I go through twice a year. I still get yelled at for not flossing enough. I just love how the dental assistant does all the scraping and cleaning for half an hour and the "dentist" breezes in looks around and leaves. I know the life stories of my dental assistants a whole lot better than I actually know my dentist. So after my appointment I run over to pick up Marc. On the way to his house I stop by the CVS to pick up a brace for my forarm since the last time I played golf it started burning like I was getting tendinitis. Yeah I am getting old. I also pick up a bag of candy for the course too to give me something to snack on and start working on something for the next dentist appointment. I get to Marc's house and we load up his clubs when he tells me that he called the course and they were booked with an outing. Crap. Thank God he called before heading to the other side of town, but crap for not being able to use the coupon. Where to go next. We talked about going to Shoaff park, but that course is pretty short and if I am blowing a whole day off I want to play somewhere with some distance. We played Riverbend a couple times last year so I felt like someplace new. We decided to run over to Cherry Hill. Yeah a little pricey but they run weekday specials and you got to love the GPS in the carts. We pull up and it's not too crowded but we notice alot of carts out with people unloading signs. Another outing. Crap. We talk to them hoping to sneak out ahead of the outing, but to no luck. They look up their sister course, Autumn Ridge, on the computer and they can't get us out until after 1:00. I am thinking of all the other course in the area, and we decide to try Cedar Creek in Leo since it's not really that far. We drive up there and pull into a filled parking lot. Another freaking outing!!! As we are talking to the pro I remember that Deer Track isn't too far away from Cedar Creek and a pretty fun course. The pro graciously calls over there to see if they can get us on, and they have an outing too, BUT, it's not until the afternoon and if we get there right away we can play. So Marc and I bust butt and get over there in minutes. It was a very windy day on the course and a bit cool with temps hovering around 71 that gave us both a bit of a chill on the course. We had kids and seniors playing in front of us slowing us down, but we didn't really care since we were there to enjoy ourselves. Overall I played pretty good for being the first time on the course this year. I had some great shots and some flubs. I was playing my typical bogey golf with a few pars thrown in there. The last three holes Marc and I played against each other for the golden golf ball trophy. Actually it's just a golf ball painted gold that someone found on the course a few years ago. We used to get together with some other guys and whoever won the round would get the ball. I have had this ball in the ash try of the Jeep (now van) for a couple of years rattling around. I don't know if it was the pressure of the contest or the fact that I was getting tired, but I played the last three holes like crap with double, triple, double bogey. Unfortunatly Marc played even worse than that so I am still the keeper of the golden ball. We commented about how we didn't loose too many balls too soon and dropped quite a few in the last couple of holes. After the round we went back to his house for a beer and to look at the challenge ahead for his move to his new house next month. The good part is that my arm never really hurt so I didn't have to wear that brace. I am still going to keep it in the bag just in case it flares up if I play again. I can only think of a couple more opportunities that I might have to play golf this year. One being the outing for work next month and the other is the Night Golf in August that I want EVERYONE WHO READS THIS TO PLAY IN!!!!!!!

Let's give it a try

2008-06-20T08:54:00.003-05:00

I know that my dad and some other relatives read my blog. They have made a couple comments that they would like to comment on some of my postings, but they don't have an account to be able to comment. So I have now enabled commenting for anyone to my blog. Hopefully I won't get a bunch of spam comments.

So all y'all go ahead and comment !!!

meh...

2008-06-19T15:32:00.003-05:00

Jen and I are trying to get a little more into the gaming thing and actually play our Wii a little more often. We might actually splurge and buy a game for it some day!! One of the features of the Wii is that you can look up your local weather and some other stuff that is built into the basic features of the machine. The other one that peaked my interest is the internet channel. How cool would it be to surf the net on my TV. If it's half as cool as the weather feature then it would be worth it. So Jen and I are sitting around the other night talking and I mention it to her, so we go online and see that we can buy some Wii points and buy the internet feature online. My shaky controller makes entering the numbers on the keyboard a little more difficult, but I finally got it done. (fixing the controller is next on the list). In a few minutes we were surfing the net. Again the shaky controler made entering websites difficult, but we got it done. Unfortunately I don't think the design of the Wii or the browser (opera) were meant to be viewed on a 54 inch screen. It's alright, but not that cool. A big downside is the fact that the wii comes built in with adobe flash 6, but nothing newer and no way of updating it so we can't watch most of the video online. I was hoping we could so we could watch the shows we missed on the TV rather than huddled around the laptop. I still have more to look up and play with with the internet feature, but so far it's just alright..